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HERMES' newest watch collection for women presents a sporty-chic number that's set to be a brand icon.

- CHARMAINE HO

Looking at the new Hermès Cut watch is akin to looking at an impossible object, an optical illusion that can be put on paper but never produced in real life. At first glance, the watch looks exactly as a watch should. A split second later, your mind does a double-take because, as it rightly surmises, all is not as it seems.

For one, the case is round but not quite circular, with four discreet angles to be found at its diagonal points. It's a brand-new shape that's a modification of its predecessors but with a thoroughly fresh perspective that brings newness and excitement.

And in an industry obsessed with form and silhouette-behold the rounded octagon of Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak; the asymmetry of Cartier's Crash; the curved tonneaus of the Richard Milles and Franck Mullers-it could be argued that the Hermès Cut, the brand's first-ever sports timepieces for women, is destined for greatness.