The Hermès Faubourg-Teeny Tiny Timepiece

Fresh off the heels of Paris haute Couture Week, uber luxury brand Hermès have launched a new edition to their small, yet beautifully crafted Swiss made watch collection.

The Faubourg, which in English translates to suburb; leading me to believe that Hermès either have an entirely different meaning for “suburb” which is being lost in my appalling translation or they have a really lazy marketing department. The third option is that the name could be an homage to the brand’s 24 Faubourg perfume, but let’s not focus on the peripherals…

Either way, the Faubourg is a gloriously chic (French for ‘simple’) and elegant time piece, measuring in at a teeny tiny 15.5mm.

Available in rose gold, white gold or good old fashioned yellow gold, as well as non-set or diamond-set cases, the teeny timepiece also features a smooth lacquered dial set with small rounded indexes at 3, 6 and 9 and a single, sweet diamond at 12o’clock.

 The Faubourg is also available on both a 3 link bracelet or strap, featuring the finest, most luxuriously soft Hermès leathers.

To my eye, the Faubourg is the first watch from the fashion house to compete with ladies models from fellow French big-boy brands Dior and Chanel, echoing the simple lines and timeless wearabillity of the Chanel Premiere which is also a weeny little thing with a 16x22mm case.

 

See, teeny tiny!

Certainly this is the first Hermès ladies watch that I would personally wear, an investment piece (prices unconfirmed but I imagine we're safely within the £1500 bracket- Ouch!), that could be worn for a lifetime, never going out of style, looking just as good with a pair of jeans as an evening dress.

Fortunately, the watch world seems to take ‘imitation’ as the highest form of flattery (cough* Michael Kors *cough), and seeing as everyone and their mother has already copied the Chanel Premiere, hopefully this will become the next enduring classic to be ripped off to high heaven in the next season or so.

Maybe I’ll be wearing my own high-street knock off for SS15. I can but dream…


Images via WWD.com, worldtempus.com

Time Flies

In tune with the watch markets current techy-vibe, the Durr watch from Lars Marcus and Theo Tveteras Vedeler of creative studio Skrekkøgle offers an unusual way of marking the passage of time.

The Durr, unlike your standard wrist watch, does not actually tell you the time. Instead, it vibrates at five minute intervals, acting a gentle reminder of the subjectivity of the passage of time. 

According to the Skrekkøgle website, time perception “is our subjective understanding of how fast time passes. Our ability to accurately estimate durations depend on a range of factors. With Durr you become aware of how your brain alters the length of a bus ride, how fast you finish a beer, how time flies by when you enjoy yourself, and drags along when you wait in line at the post office”. 

In other words, time flies when you’re having fun.

 Made in Oslo,the Durr is made from sintered in polyamide and hand-dyed. The straps are laser-cut Norwegian vegetanned leather and is available  in five bright hues.

 

 Only 50 watches have so far been made and they are now completely sold out. However you can sign up for new stock releases on the website here

With increasingly complicated ways with which to measure the passage of time, (seriously *who* understand how to use a chronograph?), the minimalist aesthetic and simplicity of the concept of the Durr is refreshing and may act as a worthy reminder to slow down and take a moment to drink in the passing moments of our days.

On the other hand, having a Durr vibrate through a marathon session of 24 or Game of Thrones may serve less as a gentle reminder and more of a blaring highlighter of the amount of time wasted every day. 

Maybe I’ll stick to my chronograph. Ignorance is bliss.

Smart Watching- Pebble Steel

Ever since Apple filed for the IWatch trademark in July last year and Google’s futuristic not-quite-launch of GoogleGlass, there has been a growing buzz around wearable technology, specifically smart watches and the potential impact the burgeoning technology will have on the traditional watch market.

I’m not particularly tech-skilled myself (computers don’t like me), but I have been eagerly following the few smart watches that have successfully made it to market with interest such as the Samsung Galaxy Gear, Sony Smartwatch 2 (now open sourced!) and Kickstarter success Pebble.

                                                                                              

I have never before looked at a smart watch and though “yeah, cool”, or, more importantly for standard watch wearers: “yeah, cool, I’d wear that” in place of an everyday timepiece.

This is why I am delighted by the release of the Pebble Steel, a sophisticated and refined update of the original rubber and plastic watch which on first glance, just looks like a  pretty nifty timepiece. 

Available in both stainless steel and a matte black PVD finish with hardwearing Gorilla Glass lens, Pebble have finally brought to market a Smart Watch that I would be happy  to wear every day.

The Steel also has brains to match its beauty with improved notifications, firmware update and the new Pebble appstore.

 The appstore is a very interesting development as it not gives the consumer additional use capabilities, it also allows consumers to interact with some big brand names such as Pandora , ESPN, iControl and Mercedes Benz. 

The kudos afforded to Peddle by partnering with such recognisable brands means that the company has a better chance of competing with the big technology companies.  Go little guy!

Personally I wouldn’t have a clue how to use the Pebble Steel to develop my own apps or interfaces, so most of these benefits would be lost on me, however, as your Jane Bloggs consumer, the Pebble Steel is a device that would be quite nifty and useful on a day to day basis. 

After all, I don’t need want to have to write my own code to make a Smart Watch useful, I just want to use it to control the sound system in my Mercedes Benz.

Honestly, I’m not asking for much...

For more info (and, let’s be honest, a better grip on the technology involved), go to A Blog To Watch.

Photos via http://www.ablogtowatch.com/pebble-steel-smartwatch/

Hey There 2014

After a disgustingly slothenly two week break, I am finally back and ready to take 2014 by the multi-dials.

2014 promises to be an exciting year for me with my first brand launch at Baselworld in March and my new role as Social Media Manager ever broadening my knowledge of all the technological lingo I will never understand (what *are* metrics??).

So here’s to twelve more months of blunderings and discoverings and finally learning to set a chronograph correctly.

Happy New Year watch fans.