A Week on the Wrist with the Hermès H08 – fashion meets proper watchmaking with an innovative twist

In the world of horology, watches from fashion brands are generally considered ones to be avoided if one wants a quality timepiece for a price that matches its technical specifications. But that’s not the case with Hermès, as the brand best-known for its chic bags and accessories actually established a dedicated watch making arm in the form of La Montre Hermès, located close to Bienne, Switzerland – a heartland for Swiss watchmaking.

Then Hermès acquired a 25% stake in movement maker Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, where the brand’s proprietary movements are produced. From there, La Montre Hermès and Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier worked to produce the H1 calibre in 2008, the first exclusive movement for Hermès, and thus giving it legitimacy as a proper watch brand.

So when I was offered the chance to take the Hermès H08 for a spin, I jumped on the opportunity, not least of all as the cushion-shaped case and sporty design offers something rather different to the watches in my current collection.

Available in a mix of materials, finishes and a choice between a bracelet and a rubber or nylon strap, with prices starting from £5,870 and topping out at £14,500 for a rose gold model, the H08 very much leans into luxury. I went for a model with a green rubber strap, and after a week of wearing the Hermès H08 I didn’t want to give it back.

A Week On The Wrist with Hermès H08: The specs

As always, let’s talk specs first. Listed as a 42mm watch by Hermès, that’s actually the lug-to-lug size, while the square dial and bezel of the watch comes in at 39mm. In practice, I found the H08 wears more like a 42mm watch – think the OMEGA Speedmaster Professional – with a solid dose of wrist presence thanks to the distinctive cushion-shaped case.

If you have a wrist that’s smaller than some 7 inches, you might find the H08 to be rather large, but a mix of titanium, ceramic and composite material makes the watch far lighter than similarly sized steel watches. At a mere 10.6mm thick, the 42mm size is a lot more manageable than other large-ish watches.

Speaking of materials, there’s a combination to choose from: for my H08, the case is made out of a braided glass fibre composite given a dark grey colour thanks to the use of aluminium and slate powder coating. On top of that base sits satin-brushed black ceramic bezel with mirror-polished chamfers, which hold in place a sapphire crystal, complete with an anti-reflective coating and what appears to be a green tint around the edges.

Below this rather eye-catching crystal sits a dial with Super-Luminova-filled, rhodium-plated Arabic numerals in a font unique to Hermès. As you move into the dial you’ll find a recessed circle holding stick-shaped numerals and then a raised inner circle holding the minutes/seconds indices. These are traced across by a three-hand setup, with a compact arrow-tipped seconds hand and Super-Luminova tipped baton-shaped hour and minute hands.

Powering this trio, and a small date window at the 4:30 position, is the Hermès manufacture calibre H1837. This automatic movement has a 50-hour power reserve and beats at 4Hz, and while I couldn’t find any official information on its accuracy, I found in a week’s worth of wearing the H08 kept time as accurately as my COSC-certified watches.

You can see the movement in action through a black-tinted sapphire caseback, held in place by a dark titanium rear. While rather industrial in its finishing, the movement’s decoration does feature some nicely polished elements and the Hermès 'H’ logo on the rotor and bridges.

Rounding out the specs list, there’s a screw-down crown offering 100 meters of water resistance, making the H08 rather sporty. For my model, this was further built on with a robust dark green rubber strap stamped with the H logo and finished with a folding clasp in black-coated titanium. While it does use a standard springbar system to attach to the watch, the shape of the rubber strap conforms to the case giving it a slick integrated look.

What’s the Hermès H08 like to wear?

While I can’t say the Hermès H08 is likely to appeal to everyone in the way a Rolex Oyster Perpetual might, it’s one of the more unusual watches I’ve worn over the past year.

Square-shaped watches aren’t super unusual, especially with the rise in popularity of the Cartier Santos, and there’s no shortage of cushion-case watches either from the likes of Bremont, Longines and the recently revived Fears. But the use of composite materials, and ceramic and titanium, really make the H08 standout.

I’ve never seen another watch use braided glass fibre composite, as is the case with the H08 reference I had to test; the material looks like it would be found on a high-end sports car or kitchen setup, rather than a piece of wristwear. But it really works, offering something fresh to the steel, gold, or standard titanium cases more commonly found in the luxury watch arena.

Paired with that ceramic bezel, and the H08 really has some visual clout. And as it’s come from a fashion brand, rather than a watchmaker with a depth of heritage to call upon, I feel there’s a flair of innovation here. Sure I can see hints of Bell & Ross, Bvlgari and others, but various stylistic flairs of the H08 feel distinctly fresh.

For starters, I love how the bold numerals follow a circular tract around the dial, rather than sit flat like one might expect on a field or dress watch, which acts as a visual contrast to the cushion case. Yet at the same time the font of the numerals, unique for Hermès, echo the H08’s cushion case in the curvature of the 8 and 0 numerals.

There’s a whole lot more to enjoy about the front of the watch too, such as the varnished and grained concrete-coloured dial. Unlike the other H08 references that use different textures and materials like black gold and nickel, this matte dial provides the surface on which the green hour indices and seconds hand can pop; there’s something about the combo of dark grey and green that really appeals to me.

Speaking of the seconds hand, which also differs in colour for other references, I love how compact it is, tracing the radius of the internal minute track – something that’s not common in a lot of watches, as such a track is usually resigned to a chapter ring – with a tail that’s as long as the pointer. The seconds hand’s circular counterweight sort of frames the inner indices as it ticks past them, giving me the impression that the centre seconds is almost an extra complication. Combined with the legibility of the dial and the contrast of the numerals, it feels like there’s some field watch DNA in the H08, which in turn makes some elements of its design seem navigation instrument-like; albeit more practical than ornate.

With that in mind, I find it a little tricky to categorise the H08. It’s almost a little too flashy to wear as a traditional sports watch, but the robust design and rubber strap of my reference means it’s not going to work as something more dressy.

Given it’s lightweight and very comfortable to wear, I definitely wore the H08 in place of my field watches like the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical and Christopher Ward C65 Dune, but I did sometimes think it was a little out of place in a forest and field.

My job is arguably a creative one, and my office environment is casual, so I found the H08 worked well as a daily driver watch that’s a little different to my usual wrist wear. And I could absolutely see it being a watch that appeals to creative types with a style that’s perhaps more esoteric to the norm. Or people who are really into industrial design and want a watch that contrasts against a minimalist dress sense – looking at you, architects, tech engineers, oh-so-cool DJs…

In more practical terms, the H08 is just a very nice watch to wear. As mentioned, it’s slim, light and robust enough not to worry about, yet offers plenty of vial flair to keep your attention when on a commute and wanting to avoid eye contact with other weary travellers.

I’m torn on how I feel about the date window at 4:30. I’m a fan of date complications, and like how the colour and the font match the rest of the H08’s dial, but I can’t decide if the unusual placement of the date is pleasantly quirky or slightly imbalances a watch that I feel has everything else so well considered.

But there’s a bigger catch: while I really liked the feel and quality of the rubber strap, the clasp fitted to it felt flimsy and fiddly. It uses a buckle to attach to one end of the strap so you can adjust it to your wrist then fold over the clasp. With my OMEGA Seamaster Aqua Terra and the deployant clasp on its rubber strap, once the size is set, it’s easy to take on and off at the press of a catch.

That’s not the case with the H08, where I found that the strap was too loose when I tried to simply use the foldover clasp, yet too tight to remove from my wrist when I correctly positioned the buckle on the strap for a snug fit. So every time I went to put on the H08 I had to close the clasp, something that often took me way too many attempts – this could be user error or that the lightweight mechanism is just awkward to get into place neatly – and then adjust the tightness of the strap via the buckle.

Not only did this render the clasp somewhat moot, it occasionally got very frustrating as the lightweight and dark satin-finished titanium buckle prong would flop back into the clasp and be hard to fish out and position into a desired strap hole, especially while trying to not drop the watch.

Once on my wrist, the strap and its clasp felt very comfortable, but I do wish it came with a simple buckle, even if that’s not in keeping with pure technical luxury. But with a 20mm lug width, there’s the option to fit other straps. I’d be curious to see if the H08 could be dressed up with a leather strap or given a soft nylon strap; a couple of the references do come with a fabric strap, but for my money I’d pick the default rubber strap over them.

Is the Hermès H08 worth the money?

Speaking of money, we come to the tricky question of whether the Hermès H08 justifies its luxury price. My reference comes in at £6,720 – that’s a serious amount of money for a watch that doesn't come from a dedicated watch brand.

And it’s also at a price where a lot of luxury brands play; Rolex, Omega, Breitling, IWC to name a few. Those brands all have fantastic watches that you can get for less than the H08. There’s the Rolex Explorer for £6,400, Omega’s Seamaster Aqua Terra can be had for £5,900, the IWC Mark XX starts at £4,800, and a Breitling Top Time B31 comes in at £4,650 – this quartet of watches have manufacture movements, robust water resistance and designs that’ll see one from the office to the bar to the beach with ease.

Then there’s the H08’s movement, which while it’s an in-house calibre of sorts, it doesn’t offer the METAS-certified chops of Omega’s Co-Axial calibres or the extensive power reserves of Rolex or IWC movements; even the much cheaper Tudor Black Bay offers a robust manufacture calibre with 70-hours of power reserve.

So Hermès is in a competitive arena, especially as the H08 leans more into the sporty side of watches – an area already well catered for by a myriad of watchmakers. But when I take into account the materials being used, and the attention to detail, such as the dark tint in the sapphire case back helping complement the finish of the movement, the H08 goes some way to justifying its punchy price tag. Just don’t expect it to retain its value in the same way as some of the more classic Swiss watch brands.

However, discussing comparative price may be a little moot for people looking for a luxury watch that stands out from the stainless steel sports watch crowd, while using innovative materials and sporting a design flair that’s worthy of attention, even if it’s not for everyone. With that in mind, the Hermès H08 delivers in spades. I was sad to see the H08 go back to Hermès though it’s given me the unexpected appetite to try more watches from the Parisian fashion house.