Stop it, hold it close to your heart, run away and put it in a safe. The watches, that will help you save a little more time for yourself, have arrived. So stop running and smell the flowers for a change and welcome the Arceau Le Temps Suspendu watch and Cape Cod Grand Hours, from the house of Hermès.

Whether you are a part of the fashion world, or you are simply a style enthusiast…you would know that it is blasphemy to not recognise the Hermès orange. A beautiful slightly burnt shade of mandarin speaks of the first family of French fashion excellence.

Established in 1837, specialising in leather, lifestyle accessories, perfumery, luxury goods, and ready-to-wear, Hermès is a household name amidst the stylish. Its logo, since the 1950s, is of a Duc carriage with horse. Designers throughout the company’s history have included Lola Prusac, Jacques Delahaye, Catherine de Karolyi, Monsieur Levaillant, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Veronique Nichanian (current menswear designer), Christophe Lemaire (current womenswear designer).

The legacy
The Hermès family, originally Protestant Germans, settled in France in 1828. In 1837, Thierry Hermès first established Hermès as a harness workshop on the Grands Boulevards quarter of Paris, dedicated to serving European noblemen. He created some of the finest wrought harnesses and bridles for the carriage trade.

Hermès’s son, Charles-Émile Hermès took over the management from his father and moved the shop in 1880 to 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, where it remains today and where the new leader introduced saddlery and began retail sales. With the aid of sons Adolphe and Émile-Maurice Hermès, the company catered to the élite of Europe, North Africa, Russia, Asia, and the Americas. In 1900, the firm offered the Haut à Ourroies bag, specially designed for riders to carry their saddles with them. One fine thing led to another and a legacy was born.

Starting in the mid-1930s, Hermès employed Swiss watchmaker Universal Genève as the brand’s first and exclusive designer of timepieces, producing a line of men’s wrist chronographs (manufactured in 18K gold or stainless steel) and women’s art deco cuff watches (in 18K gold, steel or platinum). The Hermès/Universal partnership would last until the 1950s. In a time during his management, Émile-Maurice summarised the Hermès philosophy as “Leather, sport, and a tradition of refined elegance.”

Carrying forward the watch excellence, at a plush press meet in Beijing, Ethos Watch Studios, helmed by Anu and Yash Saboo – who are the main distributors of the brand in India – brought forth the new jewel in the Hermès crown. The story starts at a primal need....

A little more time in your hand...
Think movies like In Time, you would be Justin Timberlake running around town with a neon body clock ticking in a million years. You would possibly spend more time by the pool? When the afternoon sun soothes you into a toasty slumber…ice tea by your side, your favourite book lying dog-eared on the table next to you. All the money in the world can’t buy time, but maybe a break once a while would be nice. If for once, you have the time. What would you do with it? Imagine…finishing the book you have left half-way, suggesting a fishing trip to a friend that you haven’t seen for ages. Nothing like the riverside for bonding again: great memories resurface one by one. And if you just, quite simply, took the time?

While the Cape Cod Grand Hours tells its own tale in the cycle of time, the Arceau Le Temps Suspendu watch is about time suspended…imagining a magical time that could be in tune with your moods. Whimsical time playing incessant hide and seek while moving on apace. Time beyond time – a precious interlude that could suspend the flow of events. With 28,800 vibrations per hour (4Hz), this mechanical self-winding has a ‘Time Suspended’ module where you can start and stop the hands, making time stand still by pressing a pushbutton. Opaline silvered dial with herringbone motif, anti-glare sapphire crystal, matt havana or black alligator and safety clasps in rose gold or steel makes this a watch in a million, a jewel for those who truly believe that time is precious.

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