Indisputably, Hermes is one of the leading brands in the luxury industry. Some of their products have reached the very coveted status of Icons. The “Kelly” and the “Birkin” come to mind obviously. Over the last decades, Hermes has diversified their offer, creating and manufacturing several luxury products: Leather goods of course, but also Fashion, Tableware, Jewelry and Timepieces.
This year’s edition of the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève has awarded the brand with the prize for “Calendar & Astronomy watch” to the beautiful and ingenious Arceau L’Heure de la Lune.
This watch, whose movement was developed by non-other than Jean Francois Mojon, a former Technical Director for IWC who also worked with Harry Winston Timepieces and MB&F. His name along, when attached to a watch, gets the attention of all industry insiders! For Hermes, Mr Mojon has developed a unique movement that beautifully tells the time of course, but also shows the moon phase evolution over time in both the Northern and the Southern hemispheres of the globe.
This amazingly crafted timepiece will be delivered in two versions – both in White Gold – and each limited to 100 pieces worldwide. I assume that the timepieces will be exclusively sold through Hermes boutiques around the world. Personally, I think that the announced retail price of USD 25,500/- is ridiculously low for such a unique timekeeper.
The watch displays the time in one disc, and the date on another. Beneath each disc, you will find a moon phase indication for either side of the planet. The southern hemisphere moon phase is depicting the Pegasus constellation while the northern one is a very well executed copy of the actual moon’s surface.
How good is the watch? Well, let’s see: For the Only Watch auction that took place this week in Geneva in support for the Medical Research to cure Duchene Muscular Dystrophy, a unique version of the watch, with only some slight changes in colors, has fetched a whopping CHF 210,000/-, that is four times the highest estimate and over 8 times the retail value of a standard 100-piece limited edition version. The Only watch auction is known to be a particularly well-established event amongst watch collectors around the world, so this result is actually a tribute to both Hermes, its artisans and of course, Mr Mojon.
You won’t often see a Hermes watch on a gentleman’s wrist, let alone this one. Don’t be quick to judge the Hermes wearers as a fashion victim, they deserve acknowledgement as proper watch connoisseurs.
