Waiting Is A Pleasure With The ‘Slim d’Hermès L’heure impatiente’
Time is a very serious element for most of us, so when we heard back in January that La Montre Hermès was creating a new timepiece from its playful world of “Le Temps de l’Imaginaire” (Imaginary Time) we were very impatient to see it.
We had to wait until the last day of January to have our sneak peek in Paris, where the “Slim d’Hermès L’heure impatiente” was presented to us by La Montre Hermès CEO Laurent Dordet and Creative Director Philippe Delhotal.
The concept is fun, as it was with “Imaginary Time” predecessors “Le temps suspendu” from the Arceau collection or “L’heure masquée” from Dressage. As with both of these watches, where time was ‘suspended’ or the hours were ‘hidden’, a “spirit, a special relationship with time” as described by CEO Dordet, is what “really differentiates us from others”. “We have the technique” he continued, and “while we take our watchmaking very seriously, we treat time itself in a lighter, fun and unconventional way.”
The concept of ‘the impatient hour’ comes from our childhood. “I think we all have childhood memories of waiting, impatiently, to leave on vacation, for a match to start, for a first date… said Delhotal. And in our adult lives, we still have special moments to look forward to. The impatience leads to an ‘emotional crescendo’ and we wanted to play with that waiting period with our new timepiece.”
As its name specifies, the “Slim d’Hermès L’heure impatiente” comes from the award-winning Slim d’Hermès collection, with its fine elegance, distinctive lugs, and original typography that was designed exclusively for Hermès. The specificity of this new timepiece is its ability to wait with us, to look forward to an upcoming moment together, and to share the joy of the arrival of the moment, made possible thanks to a module on the mechanical self-winding, Swiss made Manufacture Hermès H1912 movement, with hour, minute and ‘Impatient Hour’ functions. And because this is Hermès, the aesthetic elements on the movement are as important as the technical ones; circular-grained and snailed mainplate, bridges and oscillating weight are satin-brushed and adorned with the signature H pattern.
So what does it do? First, the countdown. For a special moment or start of an event that will take place in less than 12 hours, we simply activate the ‘heure impatiente’ function with the pusher at 9 o’clock, then set the time of our awaited moment with the crown at 4 o’clock. One hour before, the mechanical hourglass is set in motion and we can follow its progress on the dial at 6 o’clock. When the moment arrives, a striking mechanism rings out a note while the 1 mm dial resonates with the vibration of the striking mechanism to accompany and even further enhance our pleasure. Normal time is set with the crown at 2 o’clock.
The opaline silvered dial with sunburst chapter ring, snailed centre and counter features black transferred numerals and minute circle, and baton-type hands.
It is gorgeously framed by a round 40.5 mm in diameter case in 5N 750 rose gold with sapphire crystal and anti-glare case-back, complemented with a matt Abyss Blue or matt Havana alligator strap with rose gold pin buckle. And, depending upon the special moment you have in mind, you’ll be happy to know the Slim d’Hermès L’heure impatiente is water-resistant to 3 bar.
This exceptional timepiece, presented officially today at Baselworld, is priced at CHF35,000.
Photos courtesy of Hermès.
