Hermes’ watch division must be doing something right: According to a 2022 Morgan Stanley report, it was “the fastest-growing Swiss watch brand” last year, with a 73 per cent increase in sales from 2020 to 2021. We’d like to think its sporty-elegant H08 timepiece – which was one of our favourite novelties when it was launched last year – had something to do with this stratospheric growth.
Created by Hermes watches’ creative director Philippe Delhotal, the watch has a distinctive visual identity with its mix of straight lines and curves — as shown in its case and its typography — as well as mix of surface finishes. Introduced last year in case materials such as graphene or titanium (natural or with matte-black DLC coating), it was conceived as an easy-wearing yet elegant everyday watch. This year, Hermes extends the H08 family with a new iteration in a cool dark blue. It’s a logical (and similarly covetable) continuation of the earlier H08 models, which mostly featured a palette of greys or blacks. The brand also created a beige-dialled special edition in collaboration with watch website Hodinkee last year.
The latest H08 comes in a 39mm dark blue, PVD-treated titanium case topped with a sunburst satin-brushed black ceramic bezel and a black ceramic screw-down crown. Its subtly speckled blue PVD-treated dial forms a low-key contrast with elements such as the circular satin-brushed black minute ring. Against this dark palette, applied Arabic numerals with white Super-LumiNova, orange accents on the minute ring and seconds hand, and lumed, black hour and minute hands show the time with utmost legibility. The timepiece is powered by the in-house automatic H1837 movement with 45 hours of power reserve, and comes on a matching blue rubber strap. Will this new timepiece help Hermes watches to continue its incredible momentum this year? We reckon so.
The H08 in blue titanium retails for S$10,190 and will be available at Hermes stores in Singapore from around August.
(Read now: Watches & Wonders 2022: Day 1 — Highlights from A. Lange & Sohne, Hublot, Hermes, Chanel and Zenith)
