FINAL DASH

Hermès draws on its traditional skills in opening a dedicated watch strap workshop in Bienne, where precision engineering meets the ancient craft of leather work.

- KC YAP

WHEN WRISTWATCHES BEGAN replacing pocket watches in the early 1900s, Hermès had the key know-how to make exquisite straps by virtue of the company’s roots in saddlery. Finally, in 1978, it established La Montre Hermes, a full-fledged watch manufacture, and began making its own watches in Bienne, Switzerland, a hub of high-end watchmaking. The company chose to vertically integrate in order to ensure its creative independence. In October 2006, Hermès inaugurated a unique leather workshop, where each timepiece receives a most telling component: a strap or holder made by outstanding artisans, an expression of the over 175-year tradition of the maison.

An Hermès watch strap is a choreography in itself performed by an array of skilled and passionate human hands on various distinctive leathers: goatskin, calfskin, ostrich skin and alligator leather. They are the same ones used in manufacturing bags and saddles. The stock always includes such famous types as robust Barenia or Epsom grain, and fine colourings like “red H”.