Watches & Wonders 2025: Hermès Launches New Versions Of The Arceau Temps Suspendu, And We Look At How It Works

Hermès introduced the Temps Suspendu at Baselworld in 2011, and it was then and is now a watch that takes the road less traveled in a very Hermès way. The Temps Suspendu has a unique complication, originally developed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht at his movement specialist workshop, Agenhor – you might be familiar with his work on the famous Agengraphe chronograph movement, which has been used by both MING and Moser. The Temps Suspendu watches look, more or less, like ordinary watches (although with the new Arceau models there is a visual hint that there’s more than meets the eye in the timepieces). But, press the pusher in the side of the case, and you’ll something very clever.

When the button’s pressed, the minute and seconds hands fly from whatever their positions are for showing the correct time, to a fixed position at 12:00, and then stop moving. The date hand vanishes completely; time has been “suspended.” The movement will continue running and keeping time in the background, until you press the button again, at which point the hour and minute hands will jump to the correct position for the current time, and the date hand will return to showing the present date.

The operation of the “time suspended” complication is coordinated by two column wheels, which in the new Temps Suspendu are visible through the dial; one of the two column wheels controls the suspension of the hour hand, and the other controls the suspension of the minute hand and retrograde date hand. The operation of the module is remarkable and although the original diagrams supplied by Agenhor back in 2011 are a bit gritty by today’s standards I think they’re worth looking at for the degree to which they let you appreciate the ingenuity of the mechanism.

The module is shown with the time suspended on the left, and with the hour, minute, and date hand in their correct running position on the right. The two column wheels are in red, and there are three snails (purple) which control the the positions of each hand. On the left, the button (blue) has been pressed in, and the two column wheels have rotated so that their levers press on the feet of three racks (green). These racks are then lifted off the three cams, and the three hands pivot to their suspended positions.

On the right, the button has been pressed again; the levers lift off the racks, which fall back onto the cams which in the meantime have continued to rotate. The hour, minute, and date hands drop into their respective correct positions for showing the current time.

You might be wondering what happens at midnight, since the position of the hour and minute hands is controlled by the point of contact between the racks and the snails. The answer is that the hour and minute hands are actually 360º retrograde hands – at midnight, the racks drop onto the lowest point of the cams and the hour and minute hands rotate 360º to the midnight position. One interesting point is that the vertical faces of the cams are curved; this is because the racks rotate on their pivots as they drop, and the curved face is necessary to allow the racks to drop smoothly into place.

The module is installed on the base caliber H1837, which is manufactured for Hermès by Vaucher – 1837 is the year that Hermès was founded. It’s a movement designed to both run well on its own (the movement has passed the Chronofiable tests, which are a series of functional tests administered by the FQF, or Fleurier Quality Foundation) and to serve as a reliable base for complications. The installed module and movement are well finished and assembled, look as if they were made for each other.

At launch, the new Arceau Le Temps Suspendu is available in three colors: Sunburst rouge sellier;  sunburst brun désert (desert brown); sunburst blue, or rouge sellier (saddle red); the desert brown and saddle red models have white gold cases and the sunburst blue, a 5N red gold case.

The Temps Suspendu complication won the GPHG Award for Best Men’s Watch in 2011, although of course whomever you are, there is a lot to love about the complication as it’s shown in the Arceau model. The open dials with their tinted crystals are a fine update to the original design, which had a closed dial – now, there is something to be said for not knowing how a magician does his trick – that is the essence of the charm of Cartier’s mystery clocks – but when it comes to a complication there is equal pleasure, depending on your tastes, to be found in getting a glimpse behind the curtain.

The basic idea behind the Temps Suspendu is a seductive one as well. You can’t stop time by stepping outside it (just ask Rip Van Winkle, or if you are of a more romantic bent, any knight errant unfortunate enough to wander into a faerie realm and find out upon escaping that centuries have passed in the outside world) but the idea that you can at will, suspend the tyranny of the clock, is charming enough to have made the Temps Suspendu complication an essential part of the Hermès universe.

The Hermès Arceau Temps Suspendu: cases, white gold or 5N red gold, 42mm in diameter, water resistance 30M; the Arceau case was originally designed by Henri d’Origny upon the establishment of La Montre Hermès SA, in 1978. Dials and tinted sapphire inner crystals in desert brown, sunburst blue, or saddle red. Movement, caliber H1835 with “suspended time” module; base movement 26mm x 3.7mm, running at 28,800 vph; with module, 34mm with additional 2.4mm thickness and 145 additional components. Prices, $45,825 in white gold; $39,800 in rose gold. Find out more at Hermes.com.