Beauty & Style | Tuesday 10 May, 2016 11:00 am |

In 2014, Hermès clothed time in a new composition embracing femininity like a second skin. Exquisitely elegant with its dainty lines, the Faubourg watch celebrates its first emergence from the workshops by appearing in a variety of interpretations. In 2015, it became an all leather-clad cuff watch paying tribute to the original harness- and saddle-making expertise of Hermès. It transcends the art of leather craftsmanship by associating it with gemsetting to become the Faubourg Manchette Joaillerie. Working in the company ateliers, the cutting artisans carves out from a piece of leather the elements required to make a cuff strap. 

In keeping with the finest Hermès’s traditions, the leather craftsman assembles the cuff strap using the famous saddle-stitching technique, making three double stitches at each end of the seam, a guarantee of a robust finish. He then rubs down the sharp edges before pressing a furrow between the seam and the edge of the leather. The strap contour is dyed and then heat-smoothed with a soldering iron, in an operation known as burnishing. Finally, it is waterproofed with beeswax.

Having become a second skin, the leather flows around the wrist like an extension of the case that has been fashioned in gold by Hermès and adorned with an entirely hand-crafted 36-gemstone baguette setting. Diamonds, emeralds, blue or brown sapphires: the stone-cutter begins by individually cutting each stone with infinite precision. The gemsetter fits them into their settings hollowed out in the bezel, before pushing the material back around them using a scorper, and hammering the result until the stones are securely held in place. He can then proceed to final polishing to accentuate the radiance of this composition.