The Arceau Le temps suspendu is a watch with a message. It is no philosopher per se, but what it says goes well beyond its initial function. Instead of just telling the time, it bears a message about time and how we live with it, how we live in it. This watch speaks volumes because it tells about experiencing an impossibility. In practical terms, the pusher located at 9 o’clock on the side of the case puts the hours and minutes hands in a special position – one they would never be able to reach in the normal order of things, on either side of noon. This never-never time is a deliberate and artificial break, a momentary release from the bonds of time. In that sense, it gives its owner the impression of mastering the demon Chronos, the relentless creature that keeps pushing forward without ever considering our needs and our will.
A second way of sending time packing
The Arceau Le temps suspendu was already available in a 43 mm case, endowed with a retrograde date. The new one measures 38 mm but gains a new dimension, a new detachment, a second way of sending time packing. Its small seconds hand provides an indication on a scale of 24, 24 like Hermès' boutique's address, 24 Faubourg St Honoré, in Paris. Not 24 hours, but 24 seconds, and it also travels counter-clockwise…
As is always the case in watchmaking, the message is enabled by technique. Poetry is a question of means and rules. The art of drawing has the golden number and the so-called ‘divine proportions’ it sets. Watchmaking has micromechanics. That of the Arceau Le temps suspendu is one of a kind. Even though other watches tell time on demand, this one stems from a whole new approach. With two separate column wheels, placing these hands out of sync and beyond the reach of time is no mean feat. But as a truly secretive watch, it reveals nothing of its true nature. Most of the time, it’s very much an Arceau. A pillar of Hermès’ watch collections, it distinguishes itself by the asymmetric fastening of its strap: a bar at 12 o’clock, an invisible clip directly inside the case at 6 o’clock. The middle of the case is almost vertical and grooved, the bezel thin and rounded. In its new 38 mm size, the watch gains a more universal appeal. Our delusional hope, that of gaining a hold on time, is thus made harmoniously available to women and men with all manner of tastes and styles.
