A Watch Like No Other: HYT
How does having so many different teams working on one watch change things?
Our scientists and watchmakers’ teams were – at the beginning of the adventure – not used to working together. It was one of the main challenges we faced. I can tell you now that these teams were actually two worlds, two ways of working, two ways of thinking… but we were all so fascinated by making a dream come true that finally we form now one team with people trying to do their best to understand and respect these differences.
HYT Skull Red Eye
Tell me about the idea behind the Skull watch.
The main idea behind the Skull Collection was to propose another capillary’s shape.
Even if the Skull speaks for itself, its development, however, was anything but obvious. The use of a capillary, which carries a fluid to act as the hour marker, is a concept mastered by HYT and its partners. However, any significant changes in form require extensive background work. For the Skull, the skull shape of the tube, which measures less than one millimetre in diameter, was a significant challenge in itself. The issue centred on the capillary’s four angles, two of which are almost 90° at the base. These curves meant that bending the glass was a particularly delicate task.
We are one of very few independent brands that propose cutting edge watches.
Their vertical structure, developed for the H1 watch, served as our starting point. However, we then had to re-examine how to generate enough power to move through these sharp angles, whilst ensuring that the fluid always indicates the correct time, moving at the right speed and with perfect regularity over twelve hours.
As people on the cutting edge of horology, do you feel that enough brands are experimenting?
We are one of very few independent brands that propose cutting edge watches. And yes, there is a need, I believe, for more true innovation, either in design or technology. We have chosen both. In fact, if you think about it, HYT is really bringing true, understandable, visible innovation. Innovation that people understand easily by looking at the product. In our industry, we have seen too many times brands claiming “innovation,” but it is usually innovation for true connoisseurs, experts or extreme watch aficionados. With HYT, you get it in around 10 seconds: you see liquids, you see a mechanical movement and you understand that it has never been done before.
