New Hermès timepiece a stopwatch for the soul

Basel, Switzerland

IT is a watchmaker's job to mark the passage of time; musing on its passage typically falls to the poets.

The fact that Hermès' new watch, the Slim d'Hermès L'heure Impatiente, suggests a reflection makes it one of the most notable, and certainly one of the most lyrical, of the timepieces introduced at the Baselworld watch fair this year.

This whimsical reinterpretation of the company's critically lauded Slim d'Hermès line features two separate counters near the bottom of the dial that signify a 12-hour countdown, first in hours, then over the last hour in minutes. …