HYT H3 with linear fluid time display

This watch puts this line on the timeline.

In the chaotic field of modern luxury watches, it will never hurt to have something that makes you stand out from the competition, and HYT almost has its own mobile watch niche market. The iconic design element of the company is its liquid time display, which attracted almost everyone’s attention when it debuted in 2012. The idea of ​​using liquid to display time is certainly absurd from a practical point of view, but it is more relevant to modern high-end timepieces-most of which involve actively exploring new technologies and materials as performance advantages and providing new creative opportunities-it It looks very cool, and since then HYT has not only succeeded with its highly unique initial design, but has also continued to expand its visual and technical language.

In 2015, HYT launched the largest and most complex watch at the time: H3. The previous HYT model (and all subsequent HYT models) used a circular tube and bellows system to display fluid time, sending colored fluid into one end of the tube and transparent fluid into the other end. The meniscus between the two fluids marks the point at which the hours are read. This is a very clever technique-the two fluids obviously must be made of liquids that will not mix, not only that, they will not mix even after multiple cycles of use. The degree of expansion and contraction of each bezel must also match exactly.

H3 uses the same basic bellows system, but arranged in a straight line; just like in the circular fake HYT model, you can read the hours of the meniscus between the two fluids. You can see the two bellows above the tube, the far left and the far right. Below the tube is a four-sided strip. On a bar chart, there are six rectangles on each side, and if you do math, 6 x 4 = 24: this is where you read the hours. At the end of every six hours, two things happen: the bar rotates a quarter of a turn to show the numbers for the next six hours, and the fluid resets-a liquid back-off hour complication.

In keeping with the retrograde theme, there is also a retrograde minute display below the hour bar—also in a linear direction; so at the top of every six hours, you will see the minute hand jump back to 00, the hour bar rotates a quarter of a circle, and the The liquid in the liquid returns to zero, which is a very clever technique. Generally speaking, letting the watch jump three things at the same time will greatly increase the burden of the mainspring and draw energy from the escapement and balance wheel. In this case, it must be a considerable engineering challenge (other HYT The watch has a traditional central second hand).

Compared with all these high-tech clocks, the balance wheel with screw-in balance wheel rim forms an interesting contrast. This is obviously not your favorite watch, because it is a classic expression of traditional Swiss watch design, or a carrier of various finishes related to high-end watch decoration-on the contrary, it is an exploration of possible art, it only uses tradition The watch design and manufacturing method is absolutely impossible. This is the conceptual work in the clearest sense-of course, almost everything that HYT does is a conceptual table; there is a view that the entire brand is a conceptual brand, in a sense, it is composed of a specific idea Driven.

But H3 takes this concept to a special extreme-openly celebrating complexity for its own sake, and being difficult to implement for its own sake; to a certain extent, this is similar to seeing someone playing with eight running chainsaws. The stimulus obtained at the time is the same-it is difficult to imagine beyond this range. This may be the reason why HYT has been more inclined to use simplified methods to deal with fluid displays in recent months-a watch like HYT H0 is a perfect example.

The prerequisite for a super watch is its super size; the H3 measures 62 mm x 41 mm, which is not only much larger than any traditional watch-from a practical point of view, it is so big that it is almost impossible to wear. It is an extraordinary feeling to wear it; you feel as if you are wearing a prop from a retro-futuristic sci-fi movie. This is a very rare field-a unique mechanism that demonstrates powerful visual effects in a huge case. For most of the history of watchmaking, this method has existed in one form or another-for example, I think the automatic clock of the British Museum, in the form of a boat, will roll on the dining table and then at dinner time Stop and fire the cannon automatically; there are countless obvious differences, but it and H3 have one thing in common, they are both extravagant, let’s see how far we can practice in some kind of mechanical arrogance. It’s easy to complain that such a watch is too big, or unreadable, or too expensive (whatever that means) or what you have, but this is missing the point; H3 is very uninterested in things that aspire to be ordinary watches. By the way, it has almost as much in common with traditional watches as rubber ducks with dreadnoughts.

One big advantage of this kind of thing is exclusivity-of course, cutting-edge concept watches are an expensive proposal; HYT H3, I hope that possible customers have things like Richard Mille, Greubel-Forsey, maybe some really high-end Cartier concurrency Diseases, and even crazy luxury like Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Furious, none of them fully grow on the tree. Nevertheless, H3 will still be a rare bird for the foreseeable future-HYT said that they always try to provide at least one globally at any time, so I won’t worry about having your local Redbar Crew’s See one on someone else (or anywhere else, for that matter). Personally, I have a major weakness with this kind of thing-although I admire the more concise version of this complication, H3 has some very attractive head-on Gonzos that I find it irresistible.