Trust Hermès to do the unthinkable! With their latest offering, the Cape Cod Crépuscule watch, they have made nanotechnology stunning by coupling it with digital art. The subtle yet impactful Crepuscule watch meaning “dusk” in French does complete justice to its name with soothing blue/purple calfskin hues and dusk-like motif. It is a faultless nod to the original abstract piece by graphic artist Thanh-Phong Le that depicts the moment the sun’s golden rays hit the blue waters at sunset.
In 2018, Hermès initiated a meeting with the Neuchâtel-based Swiss center for electronics and microtechnology (CSEM) as part of its search for a technological innovation dedicated to creativity. What followed was an ingenious dial made from a silicon wafer purely for its distinctive aesthetic qualities and its semiconductor properties- a first for Hermès. The process needs skilled hands and craftsmanship as depending on the amount of material deposited during production, the color varies across an infinite palette of subtle and unique shades.
To achieve the alluring blue hue of the Cape Cod Crépuscule, a single 0.5 mm thick plate is coated meticulously with a tiny film of silicon nitride to obtain the desired intense blue color. The photo-lithography stage exposes the wafer to blue light to print the pattern. The unique method breathes new life into the dial of Hermès’s 31-year-old model. The otherwise basic square-within-a-rectangle case looks nearly poetic. The 29 mm case perfectly complements a navy blue calfskin single or double tour strap crafted in the Hermès Horloger workshops.
