The watchmaker has even managed to stand out from the crowd of its competitors in the never-ending search for new materials.
When we think about how watchmakers demonstrate the beauty of modern materials, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the beauty of carbon with its many layers, popular among many brands, or perhaps high-tech ceramics, Thin Ply Technology quartz (TPT quartz) by Richard Mille, or Mineral Composite Fiber (MCF) by Roger Dubuis.
There are composites developed in-house by watch manufacturers or materials, adopted from the automotive or aviation industries. The base used for the dial of the Hermès Cape Cod Crépuscule watch is a silicon semiconductor wafer, where you can see a recreation of a work of art called the "Crépuscule" (twilight) designed by the artist Thanh-Phong Lê.
Hermes Cape Cod Crepuscule
The silicon wafer's monocrystalline structure allows the moment to be recreated when the sun sets on the waves. The upper lines depict the sky while the lower ones form the sea with waves licked by the rays of the setting sun, sinking below the horizon. The wafer naturally needed to be treated in order to transform the high-tech semi-finished piece into a work of art.
The unusual artistic project was implemented by Hermès in partnership with the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) located in Neuchâtel. The idea was born in 2018, although it took another few years before the finished piece was revealed.
The canvas Thanh-Phong Lê worked on is a solid 0.5 mm thick wafer. It was coated in a thin film of silicon nitride, only 72 nm thick. This allowed the right violet-blue hue to be achieved, which is most suitable tone for a twilight palette in the artist's view.
The motif on a semiconductor canvas was achieved using a technique called photolithographic transfer, where the wafer is exposed to UV light to create a pattern. Moreover, the wafer was treated in several successive baths before being coated in gold and having the surplus removed.
The unconventional dial is paired with the classic Hermès case with asymmetrical stirrup-shaped lugs. This shape was conceived for the Arceau watch in 1978 by the manufacturer's designer Henri d'Origny. There are no less than two “anchor chain” half-links used in the Hermès Cape Cod Crépuscule. The rectangular case measuring 29 × 29 mm housing the quartz movement is made of steel.