The Hermès Arceau Duc Attelé was among the most ambitious mechanical creations at Watches and Wonders Geneva this year, featuring a central triple-axis tourbillon and a tuning fork minute repeater. It follows in the footsteps of the 2019 Arceau L’heure de la lune, which reimagined the moon phase display, and the 2022 Arceau Le Temps Voyageur, which proposed a more elaborate way to indicate time in two zones simultaneously.
The tourbillon was originally invented in the early nineteenth century to reduce errors in accuracy due to gravity in pocket watches. Since the renaissance in mechanical watchmaking began in the 1990s, it has become the holy grail of watch enthusiasts. Since then, there have been a multitude of tourbillon designs. These include multiple tourbillon configurations as well as single tourbillons that operate on multiple axes.
The Arceau Duc Attelé belongs to the latter category, featuring a triple-axis tourbillon in the surround of a chapter ring and two peripheral hands. Its interlacing double H motif recalls the ironwork decorating the elevator at the maison’s first Paris boutique at 24 Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. The tourbillon is composed of 99 pieces, but weighs just 0.449 grams thanks to titanium. The outer, intermediate, and inner carriages each complete a revolution in 300 seconds, 60 seconds, and 25 second, respectively. While the balance works at a high-frequency of 5 Hz. Or 36,000 vph.
This watch has a minute repeater which sounds the time loudly when the slide is moved on the case side. Its horse-head, mirror-polished hammers rest just below its power reserve indicator. They hit the tempered steel tuning fork gongs that surround the edge of the dial. More equestrian references are to be found on the hand-winding H1926 movement, particularly the cut-out gears which resemble the spoked wheels of the Duc Attelé carriage as seen on the Hermès logo today.
We are quite sure that Henri d’Origny did not think of these horological complications when designing the Arceau case in 1978. Even so, the iconic round case, with its stirrup-lugs, has proved to be ideal for applications in haute horlogerie, due to its scalable dimensions and generous interior volume.
The Hermès Arceau Duc Attelé measures 43 mm but is quite wearable on a regular-sized wrist. The watch is available in two versions, each with a limited edition of 24 pieces. The grade 5 titanium version features a lower dial with a striped guilloché motif and anthracite coating, paired with a matte anthracite leather strap. The rose-gold version comes with an aventurine dial and a matte abyss black leather strap.
Movement: The H1926 calibre is a manual-winding watch with a 48-hour power reserve.
Case: 43mm titanium and rose-gold; water resistant to 30m
Strap: Alligator (blue or anthracite)
Price: NA
This story was first seen on WOW’s Summer 2024 Issue.
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