A Fresh Start for Swiss Watch Brand HYT

Ten years after the company had gotten off to such an spectacular start, it announced it was filing for bankruptcy in March last year. Is this where the story ends?

It wasn't long until this news was followed by an announcement in the fall that Swiss watch brand HYT Watches had been taken over by new owners with a new CEO, and news of a new model set to be unveiled at the beginning of 2022. The company launched with an idea conceived by nuclear engineer Lucien Vouillamoz about the possibility of using a hydraulic transmission system to tell the time.

Back then, Vincent Perriard headed watch brand HYT Watches, with Jean-François Mojon responsible for developing the movement and Sébastien Perret in charge of design. The company is now in the hands of KTS (Kairos Technology Switzerland SA) based in Neuchâtel. The company was only registered in June 2021 but the man in the driver's seat has a familiar face.

Vincent Perriard is now the company's president. Davide Cerrato has been appointed CEO, who had previously worked as managing director of Montblanc's watch division. The first model to be released in January was the Hastroid Green Nebula. This watch has slightly tweaked the brand’s style, although the key features remained unchanged.

The time is still told using two immiscible liquids, one tinted and the other clear, which are pushed through a curved capillary tube by two bellows at the bottom of the dial. While the brand may have preferred to have the minutes displayed in a separate mini subdial at the top the dial in the past, the dial now has a central minutes hand.

There are two counters on either side of it: small seconds between 9 o'clock and 10 o'clock and a power reserve indication between 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock. The watch houses the hand-wound 501-CM movement with a 72-hour power reserve. Eric Coudray worked on the movement, connecting the mechanics up to the liquid timekeeping device using a special lever.

When the lever is activated, the movement sets the bellows in motion, which keeps the liquid flowing for twelve hours. When the fluid has just about come full circle, the hydraulic module disconnects mechanical module and it falls back to its initial position.

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When the mechanical module is reconnected, another twelve-hour cycle is launched. The movement is housed in a case made of black-coated titanium and carbon fiber. Its measurements are 48 × 52,30 × 17,90 mm. It seems as though all the developments at Swiss watch brand HYT Watches are structured around ten-year cycles.

It took ten years to turn Lucien Vouillamoz's idea into a working watch, and another ten years from the company's launch to its rebirth. We can only wait and see what the next ten-year period has in store for the watch brand HYT Watches.