Horological Meandering

The interview interestingly sheds light into what it does mean for both brands. For Apple, its the first time they let the logo of a partner take over their own product - the Hermès Apple Watch has no Apple logo on the front, there is just a small Apple logo engraved on the back.

Allowing Hermès symbols to upstage Apple's is a first, Mr. Ive said. "I've been at Apple 23 years and this is conspicuous and singular. I'™ve never known anything like this," he said. And the partnership will be expanded to include other products next to the watch.

Second, Apple's Jony Ive stresses the notion that the Hermès collaboration would not make Apple an "exclusive" company. We don'€™t think in those terms, Mr. Ive said in an interview Wednesday, after the Apple Watch Hermès was unveiled. I'm not comfortable with words like exclusive. Ive exemplifies this with the analogy to the base Apple Watch Sport model, stating that the same amount of time and effort went into designing both models.

For Hermès, the partnership is a turning point: "We are a new tradition and an age-old tradition, and we meet at the center of the arch," said Mr. Dumas. 

In respect of challenges in creating the products, Jony Ive mentions the Double Tour, a strap which wraps twice around the wrist. In testing, Ive says the second loop would slip on the skin and move underneath the Watch, obscuring the heart rate sensors. This caused the Watch to lock as the disruption made it think the watch was no longer being worn. The final watch designs include extra padding on the bands to stop them from slipping.

BTW, the decision on the partnership was made during a lunch in Paris a year before Apple Watch was announced. There you have it: Even American mega-enterprises can succumb to the allure of finest French Haute Cuisine... ;-)