At Watches & Wonders, Jean-Simon Roch Transforms Hermès Horloger into a Theater of Time

At Watches & Wonders Geneva 2026, Hermès Horloger transforms its presentation into a living theatre where time is not simply measured, but performed. Conceived by French designer Jean-Simon Roch, the scenography, titled “Mysterious Mechanics,” draws a poetic parallel between the inner workings of skeleton watches and the hidden machinery of the stage. Here, pulleys, counterweights, and wooden structures are not concealed, but revealed—inviting visitors into a world where the magic lies in the mechanics themselves.

Inspired by the inventive spirit of Leonardo da Vinci and the illusionistic cinema of Georges Méliès, the installation unfolds as a mise en abyme: a theatre within a theatre, where each watch becomes a miniature performer animated within a larger mechanical system. At its center, a sculptural structure—part automaton, part architectural frame—can be explored from every angle, creating an experience that is both immersive and intimate.

Bathed in deep tones and shifting light, the environment evokes a suspended moment in time, balancing precision with poetry. In an era of increasingly invisible technologies, Hermès Horloger offers something tactile and enduring—an encounter where wonder emerges from the simple, timeless interplay of movement, material, and imagination.

Jean-Simon Roch Creates a Theater of Time at Watches & Wonders

WHITEWALL: The installation draws a parallel between skeleton watches and theatrical stage machinery—what sparked this idea of revealing the “backstage” of both timekeeping and performance?

JSR: To me, watches, encased in their glass displays, are like little worlds unto themselves. They are miniature scenes with endless stories. I wanted to develop this parallel and create an installation that is a theatre of time. The installation also operates in a loop, with a light source that becomes increasingly prominent before fading away, like a star. In theatre, the mechanics are often concealed to make way for the storytelling. Here, as with skeleton watches, the mechanics contribute to the magic.

“To me, watches, encased in their glass displays, are like little worlds unto themselves.”

-Jean-Simon Roch.

WW: You reference figures like Leonardo da Vinci and Georges Méliès, how did their approaches to illusion and mechanics concretely influence the scenography?

JSR: I love these two figures because they represent two periods when science and entertainment were closely intertwined.

Da Vinci, for example, spent many years devising systems for royal festivities, ranging from automatons to special effects. 400 years later, it was Méliès who also put all his inventiveness and the new techniques of his time at the service of art and entertainment.

However, this is a kind of nod to their methods, as both were keen to keep the mechanics involved a secret at the time. Here, on the contrary, ropes, pulleys and counterweights are revealed to allow the audience to step onto the stage and become part of the show.

Between Revelation and Mystery: The Hermès Approach

WW: The watches are described as “miniature performers” within a larger mise en abyme, how did you choreograph the relationship between object and environment?

JSR: The decision was made to conceive a central piece — part machine, part sculpture — that visitors could walk around and examine from every angle. The aim was to create the impression that this object, made of wood and ropes — materials with a history stretching back millennia — could have stood there for centuries. All this was also intended to contrast with the event-driven nature of the exhibition. The room, plunged into semi-darkness and bathed in deep navy blue, also seeks to lend a timeless quality to the installation, which becomes self-contained and self-sufficient. At the heart of the installation lie the watches, continuing this mise en abîme of time. It is as though the watches themselves could breathe life into the automaton that houses them.

WW: Hermès often plays with discretion and revelation—how does this installation reinterpret that tension through visible mechanisms and exposed structures?

JSR: The interplay of revelation continues in this installation at the heart of the machine. The various layers appear and disappear in an endless dance. They offer glimpses of the central figure, the horse, which gradually emerges as the layers overlap. These interplays of frames and windows opening and closing maintain the necessary tension in the face of the mechanical part’s complete unveiling. It is the essential part of magic that is preserved.

WW: Your practice brings inanimate objects to life—how did this sensibility shape the way visitors interact emotionally with the installation?

JSR: I wanted to capture the spirit of the late 18th century, when magic and phantasmagoria show gradually began to incorporate moving images, as in magic lanterns, the forerunners of the cinematograph. Here, the layers gradually fade away as one turns the pages of a book; the story unfolds bit by bit, accompanied by music composed by Pierre Ronin, Roar sound & music. I wanted the viewer to be carried away by these interplays of composition and light, in a moment of suspended time.

Creating Wonder: What Visitors Will Experience

WW: There’s a strong narrative of wonder and curiosity—how do you balance technical sophistication with a sense of poetry and playfulness?

JSR: It was important to me that the materials used should convey a sense of warmth and familiarity. Wood, rope – all these elements recall a child’s toy, such as a little pull-along duck that opens its beak as the wheels turn. This allows the viewer to feel even closer to the work and to form a connection with it because they understand it.

WW: In an era of increasingly digital experiences, why was it important to foreground tangible, almost archaic mechanical systems like pulleys and counterweights?

JSR: Paradoxically, I think that the more abstract technologies become (in our phones, our cars, and so on), the more people’s interest shifts towards simple principles on how things relate to one another. In the digital world, the ability to record and therefore replay content removes any sense of functionality. When you’re at a show, the theatre or the circus, for example, the tension created by the fact that everything must go exactly as planned is very valuable.

“Magic and wonder are rooted in principles that are themselves timeless.”

-Jean-Simon Roch.

WW: What do you hope collectors and visitors take away from this immersive encounter with time—not just as a measurement, but as a living, moving spectacle?

JSR: This ties in with the last question: I hope the audience will have had the chance to experience a special moment, where magic and wonder are rooted in principles that are themselves timeless. May they leave feeling as surprised as they are enchanted by a familiar sensation – whether it be the shows we used to make up as a child with a sheet and a torch, or the illuminated fairground carousel that seems to spin on forever.