HERMES, THE RAINBOW MAKER
The Paris brand has designed a bespoke wardrobe for the 25th anniversary of its Cape Cod whose dial glitters with diamonds and magical gems.
In 1991 on the request of Hermès President Jean-Louis Dumas (1938-2010), the brand’s illustrator since 1958 and brains behind the Arceau (1978) and Clipper (1981) did a quick pencil sketch of a model that would become an icon. The watch, inspired by the famous Hermès Chaîne d’Ancre link, should have been square but Henry d’Origny designed a rectangle around a square. It was called Cape Cod in tribute to holidays on the American peninsula. At the time, the Belgian designer Martin Margiela styled Hermès’ ready-to-wear and in 1998 gave it extra leather to seal its fate as a legend: the double strap.
The Cape Cod’s simple, classic and stylish look has appealed for 25 years and it’s celebrating its anniversary by splashing its dial and strap with colours that are so Hermès.
Gleaming white mother-of-pearl, midnight black onyx and deep blue lapis-lazuli are three natural mineral elements chosen to adorn the dial on the paved steel Cape Cod GM (29x29mm) each treating the owner to their own virtues and goodness. An interchangeable single or double strap in smooth ultraviolet, sapphire or black alligator adds the finishing touch to this stylish trio.
The dials on the steel Cape Cod PM (23x23mm) may be classic opalescent silver but the splash of colour brings the strap to life. Be it single or double, calfskin (Barenia or smooth) or alligator, it’s definitely dazzling. The deliciously stylish hues are a sight for sore eyes. Their names ooze poetry and bring to mind tenderness, wonder and nature: orange, lime, iris, peacock, ember, raspberry.
The Cape Code dial bears the hours and minutes with two silver hands fuelled by a quartz movement.
Price: 2550 CHF (steel single strap PM) to 9700 CHF (onyx or lapis-lazuli GM) hermes.com
By Sharmila Bertin