HYT + Mr Porter H1.0 Tells Time With Colored Fluids: Hands Are So Yesterday

The H1.0 Ref No. H02361, a collaboration between HYT and Mr Porter, comes in only 5 items. Each is priced at $58,000 and is a true work of art for the discerning collector.

For starters, you should know that HYT, based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, is the only watchmaking company to display time with fluids. Its first watch, H1, was released in 2012 and went on to win over industry connoisseurs (and a bunch of international trade awards) and collectors, with the artful combination of fluids and traditional mechanics.

“HYT was born of a question,” Grégory Dourde, CEO of HYT Watches, says. “Time flows and only gains meaning through content. So why limit its measurement to indicating the now in splendid isolation, with needle-sharp hands or fleeting digital displays?”

This is how this rule-breaking hybrid hydro-mechanic piece was born.

“Determined that its rebellion should make statements and waves, a multi-disciplinary think-tank set out to create timepieces that visibly connect the past, present and future,” Dourde explains. “The HYT answer is a watch that overcomes the force of gravity to indicate the passage of time with liquids. Highly advanced technology took its cue from philosophy to mirror time’s intrinsic fluidity.”

The H1.0 is a variation on the H1, as its name suggests, made exclusively for Mr Porter. If HYT makes about 500 watches a year on the regular, this limited-edition piece comes to redefine “limited-edition series” by being made in just 5. This is exclusivity at its best.

Under the domed sapphire crystal lens is the dial, which includes see-through portions that offer a good look at the NASA-approved double piston movement, which pushes the dyed liquid through two borosilicate capillaries going around the dial. This is the hour marker, and where the two liquids (one black, one transparent) meet is the current hour.

At first sight, the H1.0 seems busy and complicated, but it is neither. Legibility is improved with two dub-dials included on the big dial, one for the minutes and seconds, and one for the 65-hour power reserve. Super-LumiNova details ensure that you can read the time regardless of the sun’s position in the sky and at night.

Presented in black-on-black dial with stark red and white accents, the H1.0 comes with a matching black rubber strap with a titanium folding-buckle clasp. The 48.8mm case is made of stainless steel with satin finishes, and comes coated with black PVD; it’s water-resistant to 5 bars. The caseback is just as impressive as the dial: turn it over and you’re treated to a good look at the dark-coated movement.

The H1.0 is powered by the hand-wound caliber 401 by HYT and Chronode. Because getting around to reading this hydro-mechanical timepiece can be a tad more challenging than a traditional dial, HYT has released a detailed user’s guide for H1.0 some hours before it was made available online. As of the time of press, you could still buy one such timepiece, if the $58,000 price tag is not too restrictive for you.

“The H1.0 x Mr Porter timepiece reflects HYT’s core belief in dynamic cooperation,” Dourde says in a statement. “In the watch, this is expressed by the seamless collaboration between mechanics and fluids. Its sale on this retail channel unites online and offline in a reality that mirrors that of the world we live in. And like time itself, this is always on the move.”

The H1.0 comes with an elegant presentation box, but if you’ve made it so far in the text, we’re assuming it’s the watch, and not the box, that’s gotten your undivided attention. You can have a better look at it in the gallery attached: it’s expensive, for sure, but also quite a sight.