The striking new timepiece by HYT - offered in a very limited fifteen-piece edition - both epitomises and at the same time breaks away from everything that the brand represents.

The Skull, the latest addition to the HYT collection of bold timepieces, speaks for itself. It is provocative, it is unique, and of course it is powered by the fluid mechanics that have become brand’s signature style. But to pull off this provocative design, HYT chose the more difficult route, as company CEO Vincent Perriard explains:

“We always want to see how far we can go in terms of design and engineering. Our objective was to create a Skull that completely breaks away from everything you normally see, while still embodying the very DNA of HYT – a bold, conceptual, technical, and original design.”

The development of the Skull was anything but obvious. For starters, a new 51 mm case was specially created for the Skull, with the addition of crisp angled lugs. But the real test of the HYT watchmakers’ skill was the new hydro-mechanical movement.

HYT has already mastered the use of capillaries in watchmaking, which carry a fluid to act as the time marker. So the vertical structure that was developed for the H1 watch served as their starting point. But the shape of this watch presented a new challenge for the brand. The issue was how to generate enough power to move through the curves while ensuring that the fluid always indicates the correct time. Its angled curves meant that bending the glass capillary - which measures less than one millimetre in diameter - was a particularly delicate task.

In another move away from the expected, HYT decided to do away with the minutes indicator. As a result, the main focus is on the capillary, which is the only sensory indicator of time on the watch. It also centres all the attention on the piece’s architectural design, the skull – inspired by a Maori tribal tattoo - which occupies almost the entire surface of the dial.

Daring the wearer to look directly into its eyes, this timepiece has a life of its own. To give the Skull its soul, HYT introduced a number of other, new developments. First, the two vertical bellows function continuously, with their subtle expansion and contraction flowing at the heart of the watch.

The eyes of the Skull also have their own spirit. Using a series of subtly different translucent coloured inserts, the right eye indicates the power reserve, by gradually darkening as it nears the end of its 65 hour life cycle. And the left eye hides a miniscule seconds dial, which rotates continuously.

With this latest creation, HYT has truly developed a watch with its own spirit. It is probably the first creation in which, instead of you observing the time, the time watches you!

Technical information

Case:

• Black DLC titanium and 5N gold with brushed, micro-blasted and satin finishes
• Diameter: 51 mm
• Height: 17.9 mm
• Rubber coated screw-down crown
• Black DLC titanium dome at 6 o’clock
• Cambered sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the dial side
• Screwed sapphire back
• Water resistant to 50 metres

Functions:

• Retrograde red fluid hours; seconds

Movement:

• Mechanical with manual winding, exclusive HYT calibre
• 28,800 vib/h, 4 Hz, 35 jewels
• Bridges hand-chamfered and adorned with Côtes de Genève, rhodium plated bellows
• 65-hour power reserve

Dial:

• Unstructured, fluid hours
• Black hour dial, grey anthracite index and 5N numerals
• Rare handmade engraved pink gold (5N) skull shape
• Seconds dial (left eye)
• Power reserve indicator (right eye)

Strap:

• Brown leather with laser engraved black pattern, black DLC titanium pin buckle