Hermès Faubourg Manchette Joaillerie: At the crossroads between leather goods and jewelry

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In 2014, Hermès dresses up the time with a new composition of skin-deep femininity. Buoyed by the elegance of its miniature silhouette, the Faubourg watch leaves the workshops for the first time and is presented in a variety of variations. In 2015, dressed all in leather, it becomes a cuff, as a tribute to Hermès’ original harness-maker-saddler expertise. It sublimates leatherwork by combining it with the art of gem-setting to metamorphose into the Faubourg Manchette Joaillerie.
In the company’s workshops, the artisan cutter extracts from the skin the pieces of leather needed to make the cuff bracelet.

In the purest Hermès tradition, the leatherworker then assembles the cuff bracelet using the famous cousu-sellier technique, doubling three stitches at the ends of the seam to ensure strength. The edge is then sanded to a fine finish before it is lapped, marking it with a groove between the seam and the edge of the leather. The slice is then dyed, then smoothed with a hot iron tip in an operation called astiquage. Finally, it is waterproofed with beeswax.
The leather becomes a second skin, melting around the wrist like an extension of the case. Fashioned in gold by the Hermès watchmaking factory, the case is enhanced by a fascinating baguette setting of 36 gems, entirely hand-crafted. Diamonds, emeralds, blue or brown sapphires, the lapidary first cuts the stones one by one with infinite precision. The gem-setter then fits them into the bezel’s seats, before pushing the material all around with a scoop and hammering until the stones fit perfectly. A final polish is then applied to highlight the composition’s brilliance.

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