Hermès - Arceau Le Temps Voyageur
Introducing Arceau Le Temps Voyageur and how it works
Today we have a very special video for you that we shoot right before the GPHG, and it appears that we were filming the winners. One winner, in fact, but with two watches.
Arceau Le Temps Voyageur by Hermès is a technical marvel. It is a fantastic watch with the unique "Travelling time" mechanism developed exclusively for Hermès showing 24 time zones via a circular disc and a mobile counter. And if you are not quite sure how this timepiece works, then you definitely need to watch this video.
We told you about Le Temps Voyageur already in April. And this time Jean-François Mojon from Chronode explains in detail how this watch functions, and - here’s the best part – shows how it is tested.
Arceau Le Temps Voyageur comes in two sizes: 38mm in Steel and 41mm in Platinum with a matt black DLC-treated titanium bezel. The small moving dial takes its roots from the original Arceau model, designed by Henri d’Origny in 1978. Its refined look with asymmetrical lugs and the angled Arabic numerals represented at that time the essence of Maison’s equestrian aesthetics. And to no surprise, it was reimagined in the new timepieces.
Same as its predecessor, Le Temps Voyageur has the equine spirit, which evokes the desire to discover distant lands and continents.
According to Hermès, it took 3 years to develop the complicated mechanism of the H1837 mechanical self-winding movement, which is extremely innovative, but easy to use and practical for an avid traveler. The movement nests a 122-component module, just 4.4mm thick, which drives the “travelling” Arceau satellite and the home time indication at 12 o’clock. The mechanism powers the hours, minutes and dual-time display with city indication.
The local time satellite is self-oriented, which means that its dial maintains its direction throughout the journey over the 24 cities on the main bezel. A key characteristic feature developed by Chronode and mechanically quite hard to achieve. Hermès also used it in the L'Heure De La Lune watch, the winner of the GPHG in 2019.
One serious user-friendly addition concerns Summer and Winter time zones. If you’re traveling to a time zone with Summer time, pick the "S" indication next to your destination city. For non-English speaking countries, the letter will be the first letter of the word “summer” in their native language, like “verano” for Spanish. An easy and simple reading of time. And, by the way, the 24 FBR is not a city, it is an actual address of Hermès headquarters in Paris: Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 24.
And remember we were talking about the equestrian spirit of this watch? It is well embodied in the map on the main dial. At first, you might think that this is a nice engraving of our own globe but have another look. This custom dial is an invitation to another dream of freedom and travel. It is a fantasy map, imagined by Jérôme Colliard for the “Planisphère d’un monde équestre” silk scarf.
