Hermès Slim d'Hermès Promenade de Longchamp
Hermès Slim d'Hermès Promenade de Longchamp
2017 GPHG Artistic Crafts Category Finalist
Capturing a typical equine scene which has defined the luxury brand's silken scarves, and preserving it in a slender white gold case, the Slim d'Hermès Promenade de Longchamp is elegant and refined.
Using a base of powdered camel bone and resin, the dial of the Slim d'Hermès Promenade de Longchamp features a hand painted recreation of one of Philippe Ledoux' images of eighteenth century French fine breeding, in a beautifully detailed scene which is quintessentially Hermès.
The artist uses a palette of natural pigments to create in miniature the romantic encounter, and the unforgiving semi-porous material absorbs the colours, so there's depth and contrasting shade in the figures, which is then set and sealed with a clear varnish coat.
Encased in polished white gold, the Slim d'Hermès features a narrow bezel and modest crown in what is a distinctive and highly attractive case design, and inside beats the Manufacture Hermès H1950 self winding calibre, which, thanks to a micro rotor measures only 2.6mm tall, meaning that with a gently domed sapphire, the watch is a very slender 7.4mm.
The only brand to have a contender make it through to the preselected finalists in the Artistic Craft category every year since its first edition in 2013, it has still to take the class honours, and I wonder if perhaps this year will be the same.
The Watch Press prediction
No. To my mind the Vacheron Constantin's enchanting complication and the breathtaking dial of the Voutilainen are on another level, and this year there's a Joker in the pack too.
The pertinents
REFERENCE: CA2.990.181/MHA
CASE: White gold
BRACELET/STRAP: Leather
BUCKLE: Pin buckle
MOVEMENT: Self winding mechanical. Power reserve: 42 h, 21'600 vph
FUNCTIONS: Hours, Minutes
SIZE: ø 39.5 mm
THICKNESS: 7.4 mm
WATERPROOFNESS: 30 m
PRICE EXCL.VAT: CHF 60'000
Beautiful beyond words, hypnotic in its three-dimensional detail, and perfection in its immaculate finishing, the Vingt-8 Aki-No-Kure by Kari Voutilainen is a masterpiece within a masterpiece.