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