After singing the praises of the original H08 up and down the proverbial high street for almost a year now, I was excited to find that Hermès is doubling down on its burgeoning collection of Philippe Delhotal-designed sports watches – this time round, with a new release that goes heavy on the warmth and sophistication of rose gold.
Hitherto the priciest expression of Hermès’ H08 design language (the regular titanium version costs north of $8,000) this gold-on-titanium number feels like the Parisian luxury titan’s answer to the ubiquitous two-tone wristwatch fielded by major horological players like Rolex and Omega.
Admittedly a touch more decadent than its steel or blue DLC-coated counterparts, the new rose gold H08 remains a textbook exemplar of the nuanced way in which Hermès continues to approach watchmaking (and by extension, all the ways in which mainstream brands don’t).
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For this particular H08 release, Hermès have chosen to work with an unusually pale hue of rose gold. Vertically brushed, the cushion-style middle case lends a lot of dynamic contrast to the watch’s familiar monochrome parts (i.e. the bezel and dial). The resulting look is a clean one: avoiding the garish connotations that come with using an excess of highly polished yellow/red metal.
Beyond the introduction of rose gold, the core strength of this release remains how it demonstrates Hermès’ legendary knack for a tasteful, near-perfectly rounded aesthetic. A watch chockful of wonderful small details, the H08’s usage of typography and spatial awareness are what separate it from more conventional blustery steel fodder.
For graphic aficionados, the numerals are an absolute delight; and along with the radially brushed minute track are a pleasing thing to observe whenever you look at your wrist (I particularly like the styling of the ‘8’, ‘4’, and ‘3’ indexes).
Under the bonnet, fans of Hermès’ newfangled sports watch shouldn’t expect any surprises. This H08 still features the same neat 39mm x 39mm dimensions of its predecessor; an extremely comfortable fabric strap with deployant buckle; and of course, the H1837 movement (made exclusively for Hermès) by Vaucher. As always, Hermès’ pursuit of a superlative and coherent design language means the movement is on the thin side – resulting in shorter gearing and a truncated power reserve.
Yes, this new H08 only winds to an upper limit of 45 hours. But with looks this good, it’d be a wonder why you’d ever take it off your wrist for that long.
