HermèsArceau TGM ManufactureLoading price
The Arceau collection has been part of Hermès watchmaking since 1978, and its defining characteristic has always been the asymmetrical case with offset lugs designed by Henri d’Origny, a form that functions equally well as a canvas for decorative work as it does for purely technical expression.
The Arceau Cavalier en Formes takes that premise further than most. Gianpaolo Pagni’s design, originally conceived for a Hermès silk scarf and rooted in an equestrian lithograph from the Émile Hermès collection, translates the figure of a rider and mount into geometric abstraction, reducing the subject to circles and squares arranged in a composition that reads as both cubist and immediately legible. That graphic design is executed directly on the dial through two techniques applied to a sapphire crystal disc: engraving and miniature painting, layered in superposition to create a depth that shifts with the light and gives the dial an almost three-dimensional character.
A Lift tourbillon at six o’clock carries a carriage shaped after the double H motif of the historic elevator in the Hermès boutique at 24 Faubourg Saint-Honoré, and a minute repeater driven by the hand-wound H1924 caliber adds an acoustic dimension that complements the visual one. The engraved yellow gold horse at the center of the composition, surrounded by hand-painted blue flat-color blocks, sits at the intersection of Haute Horlogerie and the decorative arts in a way that feels entirely deliberate. The watch is housed in a 43mm white gold case and completed with a bleu abysse alligator strap made in the Hermès ateliers. The edition is limited to six pieces.
