HYT

HYT has developed an all new liquid-filled watch movement that has bellows at opposite ends that pump a greenish-yellow phosphorescent liquid through a straight tube which in conjunction with a rotating dial with 4 faces – each of which is graduated with 6 hours – displaying 24-hours (military time). Every six hours, the liquid makes a retrograde movement (as the liquid disappears), and then gradually fills again. All in perfect coordination with the rotating dial. Below the hour display is a linear minute display, which has 5-minute graduations, indicated by a red articulated arm. The retrograde mechanism instantaneously moves the arm to zero, once it reaches the end of the scale (every 60 minutes). “The time is set using a push-button, located on the left of the assembly. With each press, the central time display bar turns on itself by

This is the new HYT Skull which features a Skull motif in the middle of the dial, like the H1 and H2, a fluid filled tube that runs around the edge of the dial, indicating the hour. The retrograde display slowly fills up with green or red fluorescent (no luminescent) fluid as the hours of the day pass by. Admittedly, the attraction to Skull dials is a bit eerie, but HYT is definitely not the first company to design a wristwatch around such an object. HYT CEO, Vincent Perriard lends a bit of perspective to why the HYT Skull watch is different, “Simply taking an existing movement, giving it a vague skull shape and presenting it as an entirely new piece is not really our style.” He goes on to say, “We always want to see how far we can

This is the new HYT H1 “Velvet Gun,” which comes in a titanium case with a new satin purple PVD treatment. It has the same dial layout and dimensions as the original H1 (48.8 mm by 17.9 mm). Same hand wound 4Hz, 35-jewel movement with hand-chamfered bridges, Geneva stripes, rhodium treated bellows and 65-hour power reserve. And it still features the signature retrograde fluid hours display; a minutes dial at 12 o’clock, a seconds disc between 9 and 10, and a power reserve indicator between 2 and 3.

HYT will introduce a new version of their liquid filled H2 timepiece at Baselworld. This time, the H2 has a new translucent blue liquid, and is presented in a titanium & white gold case. Apart from the case, liquid color and the new temperature gauge (in between 9 and 10 o’clock), which now has two stages instead of three – everything else appears unchanged from the original HYT H2. More details will follow, along with hands-on images at Baselworld.

Originally introduced at Baselworld 2012 in prototype form, this is the first production ready HYT H2 timepiece. As a recap, the center hand indicates minutes (it jumps over the 6 o’clock hour marker in one motion every 30-minutes). Hours are indicated by a retrograde display that consists of neon-yellow fluorescent fluid that moves within the tube around the edge of the dial.

Last week at Baselworld HYT officially launched the second generation of their liquid mechanical timepiece. In conjunction with Audemars Piguet Renaud et Papi, HYT essentially reinvented the H1 — by changing the bellows which pump the fluid into the tube which displays the hour — into a “V” pattern thereby improving the timepiece’s form and function. The new configuration offers a more complicated visually appearance and offers better integration between the interface which connects the watch mechanisms with the fluidic system.

After successfully launching the H1 last year at Baselworld, HYT has partnered with APRP (Audemars Piguet Renaud et Papi) to produce the H2. Building on the original concept of using a hybrid movement that is both mechanical and uses fluid to tell the time, the H2 represents the next step forward in liquid mechanical watchmaking.

We sat down with the CEO of HYT watches, Vincent Perriard, during SIHH in January. At the time, he showed us a preview of the yet to be released H2 timepiece. While we were taking a wristshot of the H1 on Vincent’s wrist, we also inadvertently got a partial shot of the upcoming H2 which you can see on his Macbook Pro in the picture above. Up until now, only a picture of the H2 movement has been released, so this is the first look at the watch. Stay tuned for more info on the H2. Click HERE to learn more about the HYT H1. Click HERE to watch a video introduction to the HYT H1 by Vincent.

HYT CEO and creative director, Vincent Perriard, explains not just how the HYT H1 functions, but also some of the problems his team had to solve in order to make this timepiece a reality. Video was filmed last week at Baselworld.

One of the stars of Baselworld 2012, was the awesome liquid mechanical HYT H1, created by the Hydro Mechanical Horologists. It is the first ever timepiece to display hours via a phosphorescent liquid filled tube.