Hermès Pocket Panthère

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Hermès Horloger unveils a unique piece born of a combination of engraving and enamel. These techniques unite to create a work built on a delicate interplay of color nuances and textures.
Echoing Hermès’ 2016 annual theme: “Nature at full gallop”, the fawn featured on the dial of the Slim d’Hermès Pocket Panthère is taken from an illustration by artist Robert Dallet, who collaborated with the house in the 1980s.
The panther slips into a winter setting. Crafted by two masters of engraving and enameling, it is the fruit of a new artistic approach. Drawing on their respective experience, they combine their skills in an unprecedented way. Before starting work, every detail of the design was studied to determine the engraver’s burin and the enameller’s brush strokes. Together, these craftsmen overcome the constraints and limits imposed by their techniques to create a work of vibrant beauty. Materials, finishes and hues come together in harmonious balance.

Pocket Panthère
The panther, the only non-engraved element, is created in miniature enamel using the “grand feu enamel” technique. Applied with a brush, the enamel powder is mixed in turn with water or oil. To harden the material and for each new color, the piece is put into a very high-temperature kiln. The microfragments melt and transform into glass. Patience is essential, as the dial of the Slim d’Hermès Pocket Panthère undergoes up to 25 baking cycles.
The marriage of engraving and enamel is illustrated by a snowy scene. In white gold, the dial is worked on five different levels. The deepest level is reserved for the panther. The engraved motifs are then covered in varying degrees of enamel. In some places, the pure metal af eures, shiny or matte depending on the effects chosen, as on the blades of grass at 7 o’clock. While the engraver begins the work, it is also he who gives the final touch: he purifies the areas oxidized by heat and adds the final surface effects.
Also in white gold, the case of the Slim d’Hermès Pocket, the latest addition to the Hermès watch collections, comes from the company’s own workshops. Its design reflects a return to the essentials: pure, light and sober lines of timeless elegance. The lugs at 12 o’clock, with their ness-like design, house the crown and underline the roundness of the case with a right-angle return. Their élan extends to the lugs, on which the matte havana-colored alligator strap, worked by Hermès according to the company’s historic savoir-faire, seems to wind. The open caseback reveals the heart of the movement.
At the heart of the Slim d’Hermès Pocket Panthère beats the extra-flat H1950 movement. This 2.6 mm caliber offers a 42-hour power reserve. A micro-rotor, a technical complication in watchmaking, enables automatic winding. The nitions, like the hand-chamfered bridges, are crafted in keeping with the watchmaking tradition. This movement, like all those signed Hermès, is adorned with a motif of semis of Hs.

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