Elegant, Elusive, and Exactly What You’d Expect: Hermès Watches 2025
At Watches & Wonders 2025, the French house unveiled its latest watch releases with the same quiet confidence it brings to every category it touches. Sleek, minimal, and unmistakably Hermès, these new timepieces prove that true luxury doesn’t need to fight for attention, it simply exists.
Of course, in classic Hermès fashion, getting your hands on one is another matter entirely. We were lucky enough to explore the new creations up close this year, and trust us, these are pieces worth getting on the waitlist for.
The Arceau Rocabar de Rire
The Arceau Rocabar de Rire is Hermès at its most expressive, a playful, highly limited creation that blends traditional watchmaking with the maison’s signature craftsmanship and wit.
Its dial, crafted entirely from horsehair marquetry, features a finely engraved and hand-painted horse, adapted from Dimitri Rybaltchenko’s Rocabar de Rire scarf. Every strand of horsehair is individually placed to echo the stripes of Hermès’ Rocabar blankets, creating a dial so intricate it borders on photographic. A pusher at 9 o’clock activates a charming animation, the horse cheekily sticks out its tongue, powered by a custom module built onto the in-house H1837 self-winding movement. Finely finished with graining, snailing, and an oscillating weight engraved with Hermès ‘H’ motifs, the movement is visible through the sapphire caseback and delivers a 50-hour power reserve.
The 41mm white gold case is paired with a Bleu Abysse alligator strap, chosen to mirror the dial’s palette, and fastened with a white gold buckle. Just 12 pieces will be made, and it was, without question, one of our stand-out favourites at Watches & Wonders this year. If you’re hoping to get your hands on one, prepare for a hunt. It may prove harder to track down than a Birkin.
Arceau Le Temps Suspendu
Hermès brings back the Arceau Le Temps Suspendu for 2025 with a refined 42mm case and a new open worked dial that gives a glimpse into its most poetic complication. Still anchored by the signature asymmetrical lugs, it remains unmistakably Arceau, but this version lets the wearer decide when time should stand still.
With a press of the pusher at 9 o’clock, the hour and minute hands sweep away to rest near 12, while the date hand vanishes entirely. One press again, and everything snaps back into place, resuming the passage of time as though nothing ever paused.
Inside, the Manufacture Hermès H1837 movement powers the mechanism, housing 145 components in a finely decorated module visible through the sapphire case back. The automatic calibre offers a 45-hour power reserve and runs at 28,800 vibrations per hour.
Offered in sunburst blue, brun désert, or rouge sellier, each dial is paired with a matching alligator strap. It’s a quietly whimsical take on mechanical mastery, a watch that doesn’t just tell the time, but lets you step outside of it.
Maillon Libre
With Maillon Libre, Hermès leans into form over function, time becomes a detail rather than the headline. Reworking its signature Chaîne d’ancre, the maison transforms its emblematic link into a sculptural bracelet watch and brooch, where time quietly blends into the design rather than shouting for attention.
The bracelet mirrors the fluid, interlocking form of the iconic Hermès chain, available in rose or white gold and set with either terracotta tourmaline or diamonds. The dial is seamlessly integrated, becoming part of the rhythm rather than standing apart. The brooch, meanwhile, nods to vintage masculine dress codes and can be worn solo or styled with a Swift leather cordlet, contemporary, but rooted in the archive.
Powered by quartz, Maillon Libre places design front and centre. These are timepieces that move with the wearer, catching the light, shifting with the moment, more a reflection of time than a measurement of it.
Hermès Cut Le Temps Suspend
The latest evolution of the Hermès Cut collection arrives in a 39mm 5N rose gold case and introduces the Maison's poetic ‘Le Temps Suspendu’ complication, previously seen in the Arceau line. At the press of a triangular pusher at 8 o’clock, the hour and minute hands shift into a sharp V beneath 12 o’clock, pausing time until the wearer decides to resume it. It’s a whimsical, analogue take on time controle, a quiet nod to the old 1970s digital watches that only displayed the time on demand.
Inside, the new in-house H1912 calibre is paired with a patented module developed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht of Agenhor. Together, they comprise 308 components and offer a 45-hour power reserve, beating at 28,800vph. At 4 o’clock, a 24-second retrograde small seconds dial runs in reverse, acting as a running indicator and adding to the distinctive rhythm of the watch. The movement is visible through a sapphire caseback, decorated with circular graining, snailing, and Côtes de Genève finishing.
The watch is available in three versions: sunburst red or opaline silver-toned dials, with the latter offered with or without a diamond-set bezel. Hermès plays with form once more, a softly tonneau-shaped mid-case sits beneath the smooth circular bezel, while brushed and polished finishing adds depth to the case profile. The watch comes on either a two-link rose gold bracelet with a butterfly clasp or a beige rubber strap, both with a quick-change system. Limited to 750 pieces, this new Cut captures Hermès’ ability to blend quiet complexity with effortless design.
Hermès doesn’t follow the crowd, and this year’s launches prove it. From playful complications to fine jewellery-meets-timekeeping pieces, the maison continues to blur the lines between form, function, and feeling. The Maillon Libre is pure elegance reimagined, while the Cut collection steps forward with new proportions and that quietly subversive Le Temps Suspendu complication. But the piece that truly stole our hearts? The Arceau Rocabar de Rire. Clever, characterful, and crafted with exquisite detail, it captured everything we love about Hermès in a single watch. A reminder that in a world of constant motion, it’s the moments that make us smile that matter most.
