Skill and style
At Hermès, time slips by to the gentle rhythm of artisans’ nimble fingers. Their rare and demanding crafts merge in giving rise to exceptional creations. The Arceau Lift Chevaux en camouflage is no exception to the rule. Available in two 24-piece limited editions, it stages an encounter between a Manufacture Hermès flying tourbillon and the art of cloisonné enamel, revealing a motif inspired by a Hermès silk carré: Chevaux en camouflage.
The enamelling workshop is the scene of painstaking, meticulous hand-crafted process.
The artist-artisan begins by sketching on a sheet of paper the outlines of the horses, which will serve as the base for tiny gold wires. The canvas is a gold dial on which he delicately places the golden filaments, thereby marking out the surfaces to be enamelled.
Like a painter, he then prepares his palette of colours, a symphony of blue and brown shades, according to the specific version of the watch. Using the tip of his brush, he applies the colours in light touches to create a play of light and depth effects. In the course of successive firings at around 800°C, the various subtle nuances gradually appear in all their subtle splendour, giving life to the mettlesome horses breaking into a gallop and framed by the white or rose gold case.
This cavalcade of glass, gold and fire plays out above another stunning visual show – this time of a mechanical nature. The flying tourbillon of the Manufacture Hermès H1923 movement spins airily inside a carriage topped with a double H symbol evoking that of the lift in the historical boutique at 24, Faubourg Saint Honoré in Paris.
Brilliantly orchestrating skills perpetuated by the human hand, the Arceau Lift Chevaux en camouflage stems from a combination of time-honoured watchmaking and cloisonné enamelling techniques. In keeping with the origins of Hermès, it is naturally fitted with a leather strap – complete, as one would expect, with finely crafted saddle stitching.
MOVEMENT
- Type Mechanical hand-wound H1923 manufacture movement, crafted in Switzerland
- Diameter 32.6 mm (14 ½’’’)
- Thickness 5.75 mm
- Power reserve 90 hours
- Frequency 21’600 vibrations per hour / 3Hz
- Jewelling 18 jewels
- Functions Hours, minutes
- Distinctive feature
- Flying tourbillon
- Mirror-polished tourbillon carriage topped with the Lift motif
- Bridgeschamfered and polished by hand
DIAL
- Silvered flange
- Gold dial (≈ 5 g) featuring cloisonné enamelling technique
- Blue- or brown-toned “Chevaux en camouflage” (camouflage horses) motif
- Rhodium-plated or 4N-glided hands
CASE
- Shape/dimensions Round, 43 mm diameter
- Material 750 white gold (≈ 82.28 g) 5N 750 rose gold (≈ 79.83 g)
- Crystal Anti-glare sapphire crystal
- Case-back Engraved with the Hermès ex libris and featuring a chased opening over the flying tourbillon
- Water resistance 3 atm
- Interhorn width 22 mm
BUCKLE
- 17 mm pin buckle in 750 white gold (≈ 5.37 g) or in 750 rose gold (≈ 4.89 g)
STRAP
- Matt indigo blue alligator
- Matt havana alligator