AFRICAN DREAM

With the very limited edition Slim by Hermès Les Zèbres de Tanzanie, the Parisian brand has combined several arts and crafts on a single dial. Time gives way to nature and the beauty of craftsmanship.

“I have dedicated my life to nature and want to promote it through artistic emotion,“ says Yves-Marie de Malleray in talking about his work, a subtle blend of painting and engraving. The artist who has partnered with Hermès is a specialist in the animal world, including “Les Zèbres de Tanzanie“ (Zebras of Tanzania), a pattern created in 2010 and notably available as a large silk scarf or beach towel. The design showing a herd of zebras with their striped coats inspired the artists and craftsmen at Hermès to transfer it to a watch dial. Combining several different miniaturised decorative techniques, the dial on the Slim d’Hermès Les Zèbres de Tanzanie, available in just twelve pieces, is breathtakingly beautiful.

This new watch by Hermès blends the craft of champlevé enamelling, enamel painting and leather marquetery work on a surface area that is little bigger than a coin. A work requiring patience and meticulousness. The white gold disc is incised to form the outline of a zebra and then coated with several layers of white enamel. Then, after delicate polishing, the animal’s decorative winding stripes are painted using a mixture of enamel powders and essential oils. The last stage is to add fragments of full-grain calf leather that are reduced to a thickness of just 0.5mm, using the marquetery technique, to provide the finishing touch.

In the centre of this zebra landscape are two slender, baton-style, silvered hands discreetly displaying the hours and minutes. They are driven by the H1950 calibre, a self-winding movement providing 42 hours of power reserve and housed in a 39.5mm white-gold Slim case.

The Slim d’Hermès Les Zèbres de Tanzanie is attached to the wrist with a graphite-coloured alligator leather strap with a white-gold tang buckle.

Price: 55,000 CHF hermes.com

By Sharmila Bertin