HYT

HYT is a premium watch brand established in Geneva that specializes in the production of Hydro-Mechanical wrist watches.

HYT H1, the brand's inaugural timepiece, launched in 2012, revolutionized the horological industry with its game-changing fluid technology, which combines mechanics and liquid within a wristwatch. Hydromechanics were used for the first time in the watch industry, and HYT was awarded the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prize for Best Innovative Watch Concept (Grand Prix de l'Horlogerie de Genève) in 2012. In the first quarter of 2016, HYT established its first standalone boutique (Malaysia). HYT SA, based in Neuchatel, is Preciflex's sister business and the primary brand under which the patented fluid technology is sold today.

The Hydro-mechanical Horologists at HYT have created a wristwatch that combines mechanics and fluids. These alchemists have taken the toughest norms of good watchmaking and destroyed them while addicted to non-conformism.

They have not so much pushed a new UFO into the watchmaking stratosphere as they have destroyed all certainty by combining two realms that are allegedly diametrically opposed by achieving the tremendous challenge of telling the time with water. The rules of gravity have never been overcome to transfer this energy in a portable watch since the pharaohs' water clocks.

A capillary is linked to either end of two flexible reservoirs. A colored liquid in one, a transparent liquid in the other. The repelling force of the molecules in each fluid keeps them apart. The coloured liquid emitted from a flexible reservoir squeezed by a piston indicates the hours. The bellows, or reservoirs, are positioned at 6 o'clock and are constructed of a flexible alloy. The clear liquid is pushed back into its own reservoir by the first colored liquid, which then returns to its original location at six o'clock in a retrograde fashion. At 6:00 a.m., the two reservoirs. While the first compresses, the second expands, and vice versa, causing the liquid to flow through the capillary. The colored liquid progresses as the hours pass. The meniscus, which is shaped like a half moon, marks the point when the other fluid in the tube separates from it, marking the time. The colored liquid returns to its original place at 18:00, moving backwards.

What's the trick to getting the reservoirs to work? Two bellows, each powered by a piston, are comprised of a highly resistant, flexible alloy. This is where the art of watchmaking comes in to help the system work.

Lucien Vouillamoz proposed the concept of constructing a water watch in 2002 at a Swiss national exposition and discussed it with his friends. In a wearable, water-resistant timepiece, however, there was no mechanical method to replace the gravitational energy utilized in clepsydras or water clocks. In the absence of a technical answer, the utopian vision was quickly shelved.

After a few years, Lucien Vouillamoz rethought his design, aiming to produce a fluid time indicator that is tiny and portable and can be utilized in a variety of ways rather than a basic "water wristwatch." He came up with an entirely new notion utilizing two flexible reservoirs linked to either end of the same capillary as a result of this thought process. Each reservoir in this closed system contained various colored, non-miscible liquids. The first reservoir's fluid is forced into the capillary, indicating the time, while the second reservoir's liquid expands. The positive and negative polarity of the molecules in both liquids assure separation, since they oppose each other's edges like two magnets. In the tube, there is no need for a piston. The issues of energy and congestion were resolved simultaneously. The concept for the World's First Hybrid Mechanical-Fluid Watch was conceived.

Seeing the potential of this concept, Lucien Vouillamoz enlisted the help of Patrick Berdoz, a serial entrepreneur and business angel with extensive expertise in intellectual property and the launch of creative ventures. After completing due diligence with his team of engineers and validating the concept, the latter committed the required cash for the project's early validations and made his team of specialists accessible to Lucien. They worked together to perform preliminary research and establish the initial technical requirements, designs, and registrations. The outcomes were encouraging. Patrick continued to fund the project in its entirety. He also contacted his pal Emmanuel Savioz at the same time. This expert in the field of high-tech start-ups was tasked with coming up with the idea for HYT and acquiring the funding needed to develop a prototype. Patrick also encouraged him to join him and Lucien in forming HYT and its sister firm, Preciflex, and serving on the board of directors.

The initial prototype was built after a year of R&D. A rectangular capillary measuring 1.7/03mm, machined in a circular between two layers of plexiglass that make up the watch glass, precisely represented the time. The flexible reservoirs are contained in transparent cylinders using rolling membranes. A cam, which substitutes the hour hand, transmits the force necessary to move the liquid. Preciflex proved the concept and registered the patents.

A crucial encounter with Vincent Perriard, who is obsessed with watches and has previously experimented with fluids, winning the 2008 Design Watch Prize at the famous Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix.

The notion of a rectangular capillary machined into plexiglas was substituted with an 11-centimeter-long borosilicate glass capillary with a minuscule internal diameter of just 1 mm, an independent capillary through which the time could be read. Instead of flowing via rolling membranes, fluid now flows through high-strength, ultra-flexible bellows (a NASA-developed technology) that function as pistons to allow the fluid to move inside the capillary.

HYT turned to Chronode's Jean-François Mojon and his team to build the movement for the First Hybrid Mechanical-Fluid Watch. He instructed Lucien Vouillamoz, who pilots the reliability trials and manufacturing in collaboration with Helbling Technik, on the liquid portion. Meanwhile, HYT partner and CEO Vincent Perriard entrusted the design of the First Hybrid Mechanical-Fluid Watch to Sébastien Perret's Etude de Style design firm.

Vincent Perriard got his motions from Chronode, while the liquid components came from Preciflex, which was overseen by Lucien Vouillamoz. The chemistry between these two unexpected universes is flawless. The first hybrid mechanical-fluid watch appeared a year later.