Sometimes a watch rises above the chatter. It might offer something people have never seen before, but often it’s just the right thing at the right time. And over the past half decade, the watch that has got people talking like nothing else is the Hermès H08.

Launched at Watches and Wonders in 2021, it was Hermès’s first foray into sports watches. As in the most competitive class of mainstream watches. And yet it still stood out. Without boasting any particularly new feature or function, it wowed journalists and customers alike.

“We were hopeful, but it is definitely a challenge to attack the core masculine watch segment,” Hermès Timepieces CEO Laurent Dordet said at the time. “There are some small competitors out there! Hermès is elegance and simplicity; when coming to a sports watch, which are sometimes super bulky and super crowded, sometimes over-engineered, we wanted something elegant and simple.”

Easily said, but getting there is another matter. How exactly did the H08 take the watch world by storm?

You can create a sensational watch movement, you can invent complications hitherto unseen and you can deploy technical knowledge unmatched by your rivals. But if it all comes together in an underwhelming design, the best you can hope for is niche success. Hermès focused its firepower on making sure the H08 looked distinctive enough to have character, but wasn’t derivative of anything else in its class.

“We wanted something sporty, for daily use, but a unique shape that was not round,” Dordet said.

A round watch pits you against icons like Rolex or IWC Schaffhausen, while anything too unusual can be off-putting. Hermès found a sweetspot between the two. It’s not a dive watch or a pilot’s watch. It’s not a “tool” watch or a dress watch, but a casual watch with elegant touches.

Proportions are everything and every millimetre counts. There’s a lot to be said for the balance between dial opening and case silhouette, the ratio of the overall case size to the bracelet or strap and the thickness of the watch (a very reasonable 11mm). But it’s the width of the watch that has the most immediate effect on how it wears.

I know buyers who swore before they saw it that 39mm would be too small, but the minute they had it on their wrists, agreed it was the perfect size. It’s not the most complicated element in this equation, but a fraction bigger or smaller and the H08 would have had to work a lot harder to win people over.

Here’s where Hermès really shines. Its watches are always notable for a fine touch and the H08 is no different. Check out the brushed finish to the bezel. Or the way the seconds hand sits centrally across the axis, like the needle on a compass, rather than extending out in one direction. But what really reels you in is the typography – the numerals are so characterful, still unlike anything else out there. Plenty of brands rely on go-to staples of clear, simple typography or adhere to traditional, cursive scripts (“Breguet numerals”), but Hermès goes its own way.

All the work took place in-house, under the leadership of designer Philippe Delhotal, but significantly, with input from Véronique Nichanian. Nichanian was the influential artistic director of the brand’s menswear “universe”, as the maison describes it, for almost 40 years until Grace Wales Bonner recently took the helm.

“At Hermès, each object has to have its own typography,” Dordet said. “Since the idea of the case was to mix geometric shapes, it led us to this strange, new case shape, and the typography flows from there, from the bezel shape – especially in the zero and the eight, the numbers that give the watch its name.”

The watch itself is crafted mostly in monochrome tones – both in terms of the titanium or graphene used in the cases, and the textured finishes on the dials. However, Hermès has used this as a window of opportunity for a pop of colour. And while there are a number to choose from, it’s hard to resist the signature orange.

Like Cartier’s red or Tiffany’s turquoise, Hermès has turned one shade of orange into an extension of its brand. It certainly has been splashed over the H08 with style. Visible on every watch at the tip of the seconds hand, the tone is most effectively used on a full orange rubber strap, which – no coincidence – is already easily the hardest model to get hold of.

“It’s all about mixing traditional materials with one or two highly technical materials,” Dordet has said. “And you have subtle colours with one ‘flashy’ colour every season. That’s why we have the flash of orange on the second hand.”

No one needs telling that Hermès is one of the biggest names in the luxury world. But in the watch world, Hermès is a relative newcomer, something Dordet knows very well. “We have a lot of success for our size with high-end, complicated watches, but this was something new,” he said.

Leveraging that outsider status while going toe-to-toe with the biggest players in Switzerland is a bold move. Hermès manages to have it all its own way: its watches are Swiss made, and over the past 20 years it has invested in Swiss dial-making and case-making companies, as well as taking a 25 per cent share of Manufacture Vaucher – the same firm making movements for the likes of Parmigiani, Richard Mille and Corum. So, it benefits from above-average mechanics and the prestige of Swiss watchmaking, while bringing a Parisian flair to its design and branding.

Last, but not least: all of the above would be for nothing if the H08 carried a five-figure price tag. The watch had to be competitive, and it’s done that. How many stylish, unusual, titanium-cased watches with really decent movements – a definite step up on an ETA or Sellita – from brands with the kind of name recognition that you get from Hermès, can you name for that price? Not many.

And note that the H08 doesn’t skimp on the basic credentials for a sports watch; a screw-down crown and 100m water resistance, plus a decent power reserve at 50 hours.