HYT H1 Full Gold: A black edition bathed in light

HYT, one of the youngest independent luxury watchmakers, debuted back in 2012 with its highly original H1 model. The H1 watch, aptly dubbed the “hydro mechanical horological” timepiece, was built using the basic principles of hydromechanics. On this highly innovative wristwatch, the time is indicated with water, using two flexible reservoirs with a capillary attached at each end. One of the reservoirs is filled with a colored aqueous liquid, while the other holds a viscous transparent liquid.
The repulsion force of the molecules is what keeps them apart, while two bellows, located at 6 o’clock position, are moved by a piston, which compresses a flexible reservoir to set the liquid in motion. The colored aqueous liquid indicates hours, which pushes the transparent liquid back to the reservoir, as it travels through the capillary. In a retrograde manner, the colored liquid finally returns to its original position, before embarking on a new journey through time.
Since 2012, HYT has expanded its range to include models such as H2, H3, and H4; but now, it returns with a new black edition of H1, which is said to be bathed in light. As its name suggests, the HYT H1 Full Gold model is crafted from pink gold, with microblasted and satin-finished finishes, and brushed pink gold bezel and lugs. Whilst exploring new, noble materials, the HYT H1 Full Gold remains faithful to its technical and aesthetic canons. Everything remains just the same as on the original model, except the elaborate use of gold, and a black-colored fluid in the hour capillary.
The new color of a fluid has been developed from scratch, with a little help of Preciflex, a company that develops, industrializes and manufactures disruptive micro- and meso-fluidic devices. The colored fluid needs to be stable, yet expandable and semifluid in consistency, and completely resistant to UV rays. Whether blue, red, green or black, the development of new colored fluid requires anywhere between 9 and 12 months of work. The goal is to create unchangeable liquid that won’t adhere to the capillary, and ensure it can hold a meniscus to separate it from the transparent fluid.
"We clearly have more experience than three years ago," explains Grégory Dourde, CEO of Preciflex, "but for each new color, we have to start with a blank slate. The chemicals we require simply do not exist at this time. To create this black, we tested a dozen different chemical compositions, playing with subtle variations of atoms, molecules and ions. This meant a total of 9 to 12 months of pure fundamental research."
However, as Vincent Perriard, HYT co-founder explained, after they managed to create a black fluid that could work with HYT watches, another challenge emerged – since black absorbs even the slightest beam of light, it is not visible at night. Therefore, they had to develop a new system for reading time in low light conditions – the “deducted” hour. This means that the capillary of the H1 Full Gold rests on a holder hollowed into the case, and coated in Super-LumiNova. As the light conditions become weaker, the luminous material starts emitting green backlight, to illuminate the liquid from behind. In this way, the translucent part of the capillary, which is not yet filled with colored liquid, will be illuminated, and the hour can be read by combining the time elapsed and the remaining time.
HYT H1 Full Gold Watch is available in a limited edition of 500 pieces. The watch measures 48.8 mm in diameter, and it is water resistant to 100 meters. Its only functions include retrograde black fluidic hours, minutes, and seconds. The watch is powered by the mechanical manually-wound HYT calibre, which beats at a frequency of 28,800 Vph. The movement is mounted on 35 jewels, and it provides about 65 hours of power reserve. The watch, reference number 148-PG-15-NF-AG, is mounted on a pale grey alligator with pale grey top stitching and titanium deployant buckle. The HYT H1 Full Gold watch retails at $79,000.
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