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

Dial Detail

During every round of product development there are always new techniques that I trial to see what can be achieved for my brands. Becoming bored with the same old textures on my watch dials (sunray, sand blast, same old), I attempted to try a few different techniques to liven things up. Mother of Pearl is a favourite and this worked well however an endeavor to use different types of stones was trickier.

After much back and forth with various factories and designers I decided to research the technique myself. It turns out that the use of stone dials is difficult to implement due to the high level of skill involved and the subsequent cost of labour. The process of creating a stone dial is tricky: the piece of stone used must be perfect with no inclusions and then cut to the exact shape and thickness required, watch dials are so thin that this can be a very difficult and time consuming. Searching for watches that use stone dials, it became apparent that it is really only the big luxury brands that have this type of product on offer.

Dior’s La D Dior and Mini La D ranges both offer a beautifully bright  interpretation of a stone dial. The ultimate in feminine cocktail watches.

My favourite though comes from Piaget’s Altiplano collection which was apparently a favourite of Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor. Featuring  malachite,  lapiz lazuli and jade expertly crafted into dials, each of these watches represents hours of labour and love.

 Having turquoise as my birth stone may make be slightly biased but the 24mm turquoise dial rose gold version, set with 48 brilliant diamonds is particularly striking. The contrast of the bright dial with the black satin strap really makes the colour of the stone glow. If anyone wants to get me a Birthday present, you don’t need to look any further.

At a high street level, DKNY’s champagne glitter dial is a more wallet friendly option and for a different slant on traditional MOP, the Marc by Marc Jacobs Amy offers a rich use of coloured Mother of Pearl.

                                        DKNY Champagne Glitter dial ladies watch- £145 here

                        Marc by Marc Jacobs Amy- I can only seem to find this in the US- $175

 

Although the High Street will never be able to replicate the expertise and quality that goes into a luxury brands pieces, it’s always good to be inspired by something that is the focus of so much care and attention. Something i'll certainly be working hard to replicate in future collections.  

If Elizabeth Taylor approves, I’m in.