Fluid Timekeeper HYT Returns With $75,000 USD Hastroid
Swiss brand is back from the brink with former Montblanc watch boss at the helm.
Fluid-based timekeeper HYT is back with a new CEO and creative director and an eye-catching new model, the Hastroid.
HYT first launched in 2012, with a concept that saw the hour hand replaced by forcing neon-colored fluid around a capillary tube using a set of miniature bellows. But now former Montblanc watch boss, Davide Cerrato, is overseeing the revival of the brand, after it went bankrupt just last year.
The 48mm Hastroid features a new manually wound movement designed by the genius watchmaker behind Jaeger-LeCoultre’s gyrotourbillon, Eric Coudray, which includes a central minutes hand as well as small seconds and power reserve sub dials.
Hyt
Moving the two immiscible fluids – one brightly colored, the other transparent – around the capillary tubes requires engineering tolerances that are impressive, even by the precise standards of watchmaking. The walls of the bellows are one quarter the thickness of a human hair and to advance the fluid around the tube by the equivalent of one minute requires the bellows to move by just 1.5 microns.
Four versions of the Hastroid have been designed, with just 27 pieces of each being produced. This Nebula Green model features a black carbon and titanium case with rubber and Alcantara strap.
The Hastroid is available now via HYT, priced CHF 70,000 CHF excluding taxes (approximately $75,000 USD).
In other watch news, Tiffany Blue Patek Philippe 5711 finds a new home after $6.5M USD bid falls through.
