Hermès caught the admiring eye of watch connoisseurs with the launch of its luxurious yet understated Slim d’Hermes collection in 2015 and the maison has been slowly adding to the family ever since. The latest, which follows up the impressive, high-complication Quantième Perpétuel from earlier this year, is the Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune, which enhances a skeletonized display with a double moon-phase.
The Squelette Lune becomes the second high-end skeletonized timepiece from Hermès, which has striven to become nearly as well-regarded for its watches as for its coveted leather goods, after last year’s Arçeau Squelette. Its 39.5-mm case hosts an intriguing and luxurious juxtaposition of materials: bead-blasted grade 5 titanium for the case middle, 950 platinum for the bezel, and 18k white gold for the crown and pusher. Framed within the case, behind an anti-glare sapphire crystal, is the airy, skeletonized dial with its array of alternating matte and gloss-polished finishes, swept over by a pair of blue-PVD-coated, thin baton hands.
The dial is essentially the movement, Hermes Caliber H1953, whose most notable functional fluorish is its openworked double moon-phase display in a rounded aperture at 6 o’clock, and which is bordered by a black-gold sunburst flange with a gray transferred minute track. Hermes’ hallmark “sprinkling H” motif is evident among the visible decorations of the ultra-thin, self-winding movement, whose back side is also on display behind a sapphire exhibition caseback.
The blue of the watch’s hands is echoed on the contrast stitching of the “matte graphite” alligator strap (Hermes leather, of course), which fastens the timepiece to the wrist with a grade 2 titanium pin buckle. The Slim d’Hermes Squelette Lune is available at retail as of July 2021, priced at $20,550.
