To many, its name still conjures up handbags more than horology, but when La Montre Hermès introduces a new timepiece complication, it usually does so in a big and distinctively stylish way. In its second year exhibiting at the SIHH watch salon, the company impressed us once again with its new take on the classical moon-phase watch, the Arceau L’Heure de la Lune.
Subdials for the time and date orbit the dial in synch with the phases of the moon.
This horological hide-and-seek comes courtesy of the module, developed exclusively for Hermès, which consists of 117 polished and bead-blasted components and measures a slim 4.2 mm thick. The module incorporates seamlessly into the H1837 self-winding movement, whose high-horology decorations include a circular grained and snailed baseplate, satin-brushed bridges and a rotor engraved with the Hermès “H” pattern. Decorative detail also abounds on the dial, whose signature sloping-font Arabic numerals are swept over by blued steel hands, and whose moon disks each feature a special surface decoration: the southern moon features a portrayal of the mythological winged horse Pegasus (horses, of course, being a frequent Hermès motif since its early days as a saddlemaker), inspired by the Pleine Lune (Full Moon) works of artist Dmitri Rybaltchenko; the northern moon boasts a transfer illustration depicting a realistic view of the lunar surface. The white-gold Arceau case is mounted on a matte alligator strap.

...