Going back to first principles with the HYT H-Zero

Every artist knows, that in the process of creativity, it is necessary to stop every now and then, to look back at what’s been done, and take stock on one’s journey. That moment of reflection requires a mental oasis of calm, when the extravagant hustle of the everyday is pushed aside. It is in this space that first principles are revisited, with the process commencing of ascertaining deviations from original intentions.

With such thoughts in mind therefore, one could very well point to the new HYT H-zero, launched today in Basel, as the expressive end point of just such a process. For it is when we first perceive this new watch that we realize a few things happening in our mind, especially in the context of what we already know and have felt before in the past about HYT.

First, we see the iconic details of the H1, but re-imagined somewhat in a slightly different form, familiar yet unfamiliar. Then, we note the raised sapphire crystal, a feature never seen before for the brand, but totally in sync with the new aesthetic of this watch, now offering up an unprecedented view of HYT’s raison d’être: the fluidic hour track, now totally visible from the sides. Then we notice in its design, a rigorously disciplined paring back of the usual flourishes we have come to expect, an unrelenting flight from the bold stance of all the other lines to one here in the H-zero, of unrestrained purity.

Indeed, one could say that the H-zero is the answer to the question of what the original HYT H1 might have looked like when it was drawn for the first time, at a point just before it existed in the mind as an idea formed from a collection of circles, an early point in the brand’s history when the joy of seeing liquid move to indicate the time was brand new.

Says HYT CEO, Gregory Dourde on the design, “We wanted to rethink our own and unique fluidic indication of time which brought a breakthrough in the contemporary watch-making. With the H0, we went out of our comfort zone in order to dramatically emphasize the liquids and the new 3-dimensional fluidic indication of time, floating in the air, visible from all around.”

Continuing on in relation to the new sapphire crystal, “The sapphire dome offers a spectacular view over the capillary and the liquids, but also over the 8-component dial which has a wave shape. The fluidic device is visible from the sides and offers a new vision of the time flowing inside the capillary. We also took out the 6 o’clock metal dome we have in our other collections in order to show the origin and the end of the capillary, providing consequently a tubular 3D vision of the liquids.”

With the H1 to the H4, we have certainly seen a visible maturation of the HYT line-up over its relatively short but productive history. As we pause for a moment before the next generation of the fluidic technology stands to astound us in 2018, it’s worth looking back over what this independent brand has achieved by reminding us again just how astounding the H1 was when it appeared. One thing is certain, that moment when a brand can begin to re-imagine its most well known watch is one that it marks its first steps towards iconic status.

The H-zero comes in three titanium-cased variations, the H-zero Black, H-zero Orange and H-zero Silver. All are 15 piece limited editions

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