Time has a tendency to chase after people, but Hermes timepieces arrange an extra day a week for them.

"We asked our customers what they would do if they had eight days a week," says Eric Grellety Bosviel, managing director of La Montre Hermes Pacific Ltd.

"The answers were usually 'turn off telephone' or 'turn off the television'. They wanted to switch off all their devices so they could really enjoy time with their loved ones."

So Hermes' ambition was to find that time for those peaceful, loving occasions.

"What we want to share with our customers is the feeling that they control their time, just as our craftsmen do when they slowly, carefully produce handmade bags and watches. Without time we couldn't make such beautiful and unique pieces."

More than half of the people who work for Hermes are skilled craftsmen, and the company is not about to rush them.

The brand's newest model - Cape Cod 8 Days - has 234 interdependent components, each meticulously linked to another by the same artisan.

The Cape Cod's Vaucher mechanical hand-wound movement was inspired by the original Hermes watch - also a Cape Cod model - designed by Henry d'Origny in 1928.

The modern version adds an eight-day power reserve and jumping hours.

Hermes owns a 25-per-cent stake in Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, a corporate bond that Bosviel called "the perfect combination between the expertise of handmade craftsmanship from Switzerland and the design of Hermes".

Time, the philosophers at Hermes believe, is "a material". It can be used to shape thought, action, rest, pleasure, and if used with care, can always be enjoyable.

A Hermes watch is the source of this material, right there on your wrist, geared to each individual's rhythm.

"In a way it gives back time," Bosviel says, "so that in the end we have very peaceful relationship with time."

"A piece like the Cape Cod appears very simple. After 10 or 20 years, it truly seems timeless, but it remains contemporary.

"Behind the simplicity is the strong design, though - only the interpretation is simple. Sometimes the most difficult thing in life is to make it simple."

Bosviel, who's been with Hermes for eight years, received his first Hermes watch as a gift when he was 18. His Arceau model was designed by the same man who created the Cape Cod.

He's not a collector, but "I've got eight or 10 watches at home, mainly Hermes. The reason is that I don't believe that people need to own things to like them. I think it's better to be passionate without owning them."

How does he pick his watch for the day? He thinks about what the day has in store and chooses accordingly.

"You can't wear a watch you don't like, that you don't feel comfortable with.

"It's funny, though: Some days you feel comfortable with one accessory, and the next day you don't!"

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation