Europa Star: Hermès is bringing out a new generation of Arceau Le temps suspendu this year. Something of a symbol, one could say, as this is the model that established Hermès as a full-fledged watchmaker when it launched in 2011. One with a character of its own. Was it a long road to travel?

Guillaume de Seynes: We came to watchmaking with a certain candour and learned step by step. It was a long journey, longer even than we had imagined, but we were never tempted to cut corners or try to speed things up. Watchmaking, like any Métier, takes the time it takes. We tend to forget that back in 1978, quartz was sweeping away everything in its path. Jean-Louis Dumas had been interested in buying Breguet, after Chaumet declared bankruptcy, in the early 1970s, but that never went ahead. From an industrial perspective, quartz was by far the easier option. Movements were smaller and offered much greater freedom in terms of shapes, fewer constraints, than a mechanical movement, and this made it the natural choice for creative watchmaking.

Guillaume de Seynes

At heart, Hermès’s history has always been an encounter between our own creative sphere and exceptional craftsmanship, whether in leather, silk, watchmaking or another discipline. Taking time to learn is essential. A virtue. You don’t become a watchmaker overnight.

We were finally acknowledged as watchmakers when Arceau Le temps suspendu was awarded the Men’s Watch Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2011. This marked a turning point for us, an important moment when we proposed something out of the ordinary that changed the way the profession saw us. It also set the tone for our conception of watchmaking with a twist, playing with complications, transforming them or introducing a poetic, even humorous note.

Prior to that, you had to take strategic decisions to reposition and develop La Montre Hermès.

When I joined in 1998 [Guillaume de Seynes was managing director of La Montre Hermès from 1998 until 2004 and is now executive vice-president of watches and manufacturing operations], I told my uncle, Jean-Louis Dumas, who was at the head of Hermès, that La Montre Hermès should go beyond quartz and move towards mechanical. This is when we turned to Parmigiani. It all came about in a very simple, natural way, particularly as Emile Hermès [1871-1951, grandson of founder Thierry Hermès] had rented an apartment in Paris in a building owned by the Landolt family. We quickly reached an agreement that we would take a stake in Manufacture Vaucher in Fleurier. Vaucher now supplies all our mechanical movements.

A reinterpretation of the 2011 model, Arceau Le temps suspendu features a new aesthetic. Its slender 42mm case frames an openworked dial revealing the exclusive “Time suspended” module. The latter is driven by a Manufacture Hermès H1837 movement, visible through the transparent caseback. The white or rose gold cases are paired with three dial colours – brun désert, rouge sellier and blue – reaffirming the timeless nature of the line with its characteristic asymmetrical lugs crafted in the Hermès Horloger workshops.

Quite a few milestones were set during these decades. We vertically integrated, notably through our acquisition of dial makers Natéber and case makers Joseph Erard. Incorporated into a single manufacturing facility in Le Noirmont, under the name Ateliers d’Hermès Horloger, both are currently in a development phase. We’re preparing to double their floor space without interrupting production.

This verticalisation enabled us to gradually develop our products and show, in the metal, that we intended to make watches that were a little different from anything else.

How did this difference take shape?

So, in 1978 we launched our first watch, the Arceau, designed by Henri d’Origny — who, by the way, still works with us at more than 90 years of age. An incredible draughtsman, as well as an equestrian, he had already designed hundreds of ties and silk squares. Jean-Louis Dumas asked him, would you be interested in designing a watch? He had no preconceived ideas, produced several hundred sketches and proposed this equestrian-inspired watch that was already quite unique. No doubt a watch brand would have told him, that we can’t do, that’s not watch-like, and it would have ended up as a far less interesting piece. The end result was anything but classical and already very different from anything else at that time. He also went on to design the Cape Cod.

In the 1980s, Hermès brought out the Clipper, with its porthole-shaped bezel, followed in 1985 by the Rallye whose lugs resemble a horse’s bit, then the Sellier in 1987, for Hermès’s 150th anniversary, with a saddle nail in the centre of the dial, and the Cape Cod, which came out in 1991.

My arrival in 1998 coincided with the first double tour strap, an idea that really took off. It was imagined by Martin Margiela, then artistic director for women’s ready-to-wear. This was followed by more original creations, such as the Belt in 1999 or the Nomade in 2001, with an auto-quartz movement.

We’re getting closer and closer to the Hermès mechanical watch and its complications.

Indeed. In 2003, for the 25th anniversary of La Montre Hermès in Brügg, near Biel/Bienne, we launched the first Dressage, a rather lovely automatic watch with a Vaucher movement. In 2004 we released the same Dressage with a retrograde date and moon phases, developed for us by Vaucher – and in 2006 we took a 25% stake in Manufacture Vaucher. Progressively, all our mechanical watches would be equipped with Vaucher movements.

Would this autonomy in movement supply, as well as case and dial manufacturing capacity, enable La Montre Hermès to go further in its explorations of mechanisms and shapes?

In terms of the evolution and affirmation of our watchmaking, having direct control over production of our cases and dials has strengthened the unique symbiosis between forms and functions. This extends to our custom-designed dial fonts as well as case shapes.

The poetic and playful mechanisms of Arceau Le temps suspendu and Dressage L’heure masquée would be the first in a line that has continued with Arceau Le temps voyageur and Arceau L’heure de la lune.

Unveiled in 2019, Arceau L’heure de la lune needs no introduction. In 2025, Hermès presents a limited edition of 12 sets, each containing three new variations: a white gold and blue titanium version with a lunar rock dial; a rose gold and titanium version with a dial made from a fragment of the Vesta asteroid, and a white and rose gold version whose dial is a fragment of the Erg Chech meteorite.

Might I also mention the H08 that debuted in 2021, an immensely successful and now major line of men’s sports watches. Not forgetting Slim d’Hermès.

You’re broadening your palette in every sense. You’ve introduced watches across quite a wide spectrum and you’re also introducing colour, through the Hermès H08 which you just mentioned. Is colour something else that sets you apart, in particular your métiers d’art watches?

We have a palette of 50,000 colours for our silks. The smallest nuances imaginable. Not to mention our vast archives of contemporary and classic designs which form the basis for our themes and illustrations. It’s a remarkably rich legacy and we use it to the full.

Inspiration for most of our artistic watches comes from our silk scarves. When making these watches, always based on our own designs, we work with independent craftsmen and women, all specialists in their field. We enjoy mixing techniques, effects and styles. We master certain very specific techniques in-house, for example leather marquetry, leather mosaic and Millefiori crystal.

Introduced in 2022, Arceau Le temps voyageur adopts a white gold or rose gold livery. A circular disc displaying 24 time zones indicates home time at 12 o’clock, while a mobile counter shows local time. These indications are driven by an exclusive 122-component module, integrated into the Manufacture Hermès H1837 mechanical automatic movement.

For certain highly specialised crafts, such as horsehair marquetry, we have our partner studio. Horsehair is an extraordinary and durable material, directly related to our equestrian legacy, that comes in beautiful dark shades. I actually have chairs with horsehair upholstery. It lasts and lasts.

Perhaps we’ll sit in them next time we meet…

And pause time! When you reach a ripe old age like Hermès, you can take all kinds of liberties. Jean-Louis Dumas believed in always following your own path and we still do.