Created in 2015, the Slim d’Hermès watch lends its sleek lines to artisanal skills. Available in two versions, it highlights the art of engraving and leather marquetry on a dial featuring a seahorse designed by London-based illustrator Stuart Patience.
To transpose the seahorse’s curves to the scale of the watch, the engraver begins by tracing its profile, and the animal’s contours take shape in the wake of the various tools used. After engraving comes specialized marquetry involving leather of different colours trimmed to a 0.5 mm thickness, before being meticulously cut to reproduce each design element. One by one, the fragments are assembled on the dial, and the seahorse comes to life beneath the artisan’s hand.
Housed in a 39.5 mm-diameter white gold case, the Hermès H1950 mechanical self-winding movement reveals the finishes and H-shaped decorations adorning its hand-bevelled bridges through the sapphire crystal case-back.
A béton or perle Swift calfskin strap showcasing the House’s leatherworking expertise accentuates the colourful mosaic of these two watches, issued in numbered limited series of 24 each.
