Hermès has put the Cape Cod in titanium. The new edition takes the watch Henri d'Origny drew in 1991, its case a square held inside a rectangle, a geometry lifted from the link of an anchor chain, and rebuilds it at 41mm in the light gray metal, cooler and sportier than anything the line has offered before.
Titanium changes how the watch sits on the wrist, lighter and easier to live with through a full day. The case mixes its finishes, a satin brushing across the top with beadblasted sides, so the surfaces read differently as the light moves.
The dial works the same trick in dark gray. A sandblasted center scatters the light while a satin-brushed outer ring frames it, texture standing in for ornament. The Arabic numerals come plated in rhodium, matched to baton hands, and both glow after sundown thanks to a coat of Super-LumiNova. Against all that restraint, the orange seconds hand is the one loud thing on the watch.
Inside is the Manufacture Hermès H1912, the house's Swiss automatic, good for 45 hours off the wrist, with the date sitting in a window at 6 o'clock. Water resistance holds to 10 ATM, enough for the seafaring life the Cape Cod was named after.
Hermès offers rubber in jaune de Naples, orange, bleu abysse and black, colors that keep the watch closer to the boat deck than the boardroom.
