The theater of Hermès mechanics in watches and wonders 2026

Hermès plays time as theater at Watches and Wonders 2026

At Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026, Hermes frames time as a performative medium, directing his latest horological editions within one kinetic scenography by Jean-Simon Roch. Conceived as a mobile installation where watchmaking mechanics interact with theatrical machinery, the work positions movement as narrative. Within this changing environment, the maison unveils three new skeletons watches: Hermès H08 Squelette, Arceau Samarcande and Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune, each exposing its inner workings as openings to a hidden temporary world.

Composer Pierre Ronin creates a soundscape that brings the set to life, transforming it into a giant stringed instrument. Together, the installation reflects the way Hermès thinks about time: not as something to be measured or ordered, but as a space of emotion, spontaneity and leisure.

all images from Team WHAAAT!unless otherwise stated

Jean-Simon Roch designs a mechanism displacement stage

French artist Jean-Simon Roch’s set design for Hermès in Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026 it works as a hybrid between theater wings and animation machinery. A tall wooden structure unfolds as an open frame, weaving threads of time through layers of transparency and depth. Its porous construction directs the gaze inward, echoing its logic of the house skeleton watches, where the structure becomes an ornament. Interior and exterior collapse into one, turning the installation into a spatial mechanism.

Movement permeates every element. Ropes and pulleys rise and fall, counterweights trace repeating circles, and spinning wheels produce a delicate mechanical rhythm. The installation reads as a large-scale automaton, constantly reconfiguring itself. Along its edges, miniature theater-like display cases showcase the watches, reinforcing the idea of horology as a staged spectacle.

ropes and pulleys activate the set choreography | image ©designboom

when the scenography becomes an instrument

In the center, a fragmented equestrian figure gradually emerges, intertwined with shifting geometric forms. The horse motif, engraved by Gianpaolo Pagni, is glimpsed through moving wooden panels that alternately hide and reveal it. This choreography of appearance and disappearance blurs the lines between stage and background, aligning with the recurring equestrian iconography of Mercury, while introducing a temporal dimension of suspense.

The installation extends beyond the visual into a complex sound environment developed in collaboration with Pierre Ronin. Mechanical sounds are translated into a fluctuating score, where circular rhythms shift to lighter improvisations. The scenography essentially becomes a large sounding instrument, synchronizing movement and sound into a single temporal experience.

the installation rises as a modular wooden tower

opening to the invisible

The three innovations introduced in Geneva treat skeletonization as both a technical achievement and a form of visual language, with the structure of movement appearing as an ever-changing backdrop where the eye travels between transparency and depth.

The Hermès H08 Squelette houses the new H1978 S titanium case, 168 components and a 60-hour power reserve inside a DLC-treated 39mm cushion-shaped titanium case. Disappearing lines and interlocking gears draw the eye through the architectural layering of movement, both messy and structural.

Arceau Samarcande revisits the Henri d’Origny series he designed in 1978, with its round case and asymmetric lugs inspired by a stirrup, now housing a Haute Horlogerie complication. A Saint-Louis crystal dial, in blue or white, is machined into a horse’s head, revealing the skeleton caliber H1297 underneath. The movement activates a minute repeater, with the gong’s time sounding below the horse’s starry eye. The sapphire crystal caseback opens to the minute repeater hammers and micro-rotor, the latter beautifully decorated with the Duc attelé motif. Housed in a 38mm white or rose gold case, the watch traces, as Hermès puts it, a transition between two worlds where the inside and the outside meet and blend.

The Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune extends an invitation to delve into the mysteries of time by introducing a double moon phase complication that tracks the lunar cycle from both the northern and southern hemispheres simultaneously.

translucent panels and hanging elements create depth between stage and backdrop | image ©designboom