HYT’s tantalising liquid movements

This innovative brand based in Switzerland made its mark on the world of fine watchmaking when it launched its H1 at Baselworld 2012. The CEO of this imaginative venture, in an exclusive interview with “Day & Night” magazine, talks about its inventions and the trials and challenges faced by the brand

The HYT brand, which describes itself as “truly addicted to nonconformism”, has literally been making waves since the debut of the H1. Since then, these Hydro Mechancial Horologists have managed to repeatedly astonish watch lovers with their hybrid creations. The latest in line is the H1 Full Gold and the H1 Skull Bad Boy. “Day & Night” magazine caught up with Vincent Perriard, CEO of the brand, at Baselworld 2016.

What was the inspiration that led to HYT, a brand that is so different from typical watchmaking?
The HYT team came from different brands – we all grew up in the industry, from Swatch group, from Hublot etc. – and we were all looking for adventure; to bring something totally different to the industry. We were not thinking of only a difference in design, but something that is outstanding. And what can be more surprising than to combine something that is not supposed to be in a watch. For more than five hundred years, watchmakers all over the world have tried to avoid any liquid inside a watch and have invented water-resistant parts so as to avoid humidity inside a watch.

In HYT, we play with fear. We take liquids, they become our friends and we ask the liquid to display time. Thus, when we started three years ago, we invented something totally different and unique. People were shocked and surprised and there was a lot of buzz in the industry because of its novelty factor. ‘Novelty’ in the industry sometimes means the usage of new materials, a new system that has been put in place, etc. There are no revolutionary changes, just minor changes that only experts understand. But, in a HYT product, everybody understands the difference: from the salesperson to a high-end collector, people understand. I can explain it to you very briefly – it is liquid, it is mechanical, it is a watch and we display time with the liquid! That is it! We wanted to invest in R&D, innovate, and combine high tech with real craftsmanship movement from heritage brands such as Audemars Piguet. So that was the vision with which we started.

What difficulties did you face in the beginning?
We suffered a lot. When you create a movement, it is like Lego – this goes here and that is connected there. It is a logical progression. Whereas when you use a liquid, it goes all over the place. You have to guide the path of the liquid. But then, the liquid behaves in a certain way when it is hot, a different way when it is cold, or on a mountain, or on a plain. Liquid is not like a mechanical system, it uses the basic physics of the planet.

We had a lot of problems with the H1, our first product. But the good thing is that we have overcome those problems now. We had to work twice as hard to resolve them, but those problems have now become opportunities. One of the big problems we had with HYT was with temperature. If you are in Dubai on a hot day with the temperature at 50°C, the watch is going to get hot and the liquid in the watch would expand, whereas in Sweden, it would contract due to the cold weather. We knew that we would face problems working with liquids, but did not realise that it would be so much. When you have the liquid in a small capillary, the visual effect – the expansion when you are outside in the sun and the contraction when you go inside to an air-conditioned atmosphere –is crazy.

This was resolved by using a compensation system – a little mechanical device that goes inside the bellow (spring) and does exactly the opposite. So when the liquid expands, something inside the bellow contracts and it offsets the expansion so that the liquid does not move. It stays where it ought to, irrespective of the changes in temperature. Thanks to this problem, we were able to revolutionise the industry by harnessing the changes wrought on the liquid by the temperature to power the movement.

This means a fluidic system that captures the difference in temperature and makes the movement work. So, today, the movement makes the liquid display work; tomorrow, the liquid will make the movement work. You will not have to rewind the watch again; it is the new power system of the industry. We have discovered this; we already have prototypes that work.

Can we expect this extraordinary watch to be debuted in the next SIHH?
No, it will take another 2.5 to three years.

HYT is still a very young brand and your watches are some of the affordable ones in the luxury segment. How are you able to convince investors that HYT is a viable brand for investment?
When someone asks me if we are going to be around in 20 or 50 years, I cannot answer. Something that is hot today may not be a success ten years later. Some brands that were big yesterday are no longer in the market. The lifecycle of brands is changing big time. Rolex is hot today, but was not popular in the 50s. Who knows what will happen in 20 years? But, we are a solid company with a total investment of CHF45 million. Ten days ago, we were able to raise CHF23 million, with the chairman of Nestlé, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, being one of the investors.  

We have decided that we will be participating more in the SIHH; this is our last participation in Baselworld. We have already asked to double our space at SIHH, where we will have a big presence. We are opening our subsidiary in Myanmar and we are investing in distribution. We opened our new 120sqm boutique in Kuala Lumpur in February. Our subsidiary in Singapore is housed in a three-storey building with a HYT showroom in it. Our budget has increased by more than 20 percent than last year though we are facing headwinds.

The next six months is going to be even tougher, but we are hiring. When I first met you, we were only three, now we are 44. We are growing very fast and the reason that people are investing in HYT is because of the 29 IPs (Intellectual Properties) that we own. This interests all groups. We can, of course, license it to others at very high prices. We also have cool, interesting novelties that can be interesting for other brands without hurting HYT. Our valuation on the market at present is CHF100 million, in addition to the CHF23 million we raised ten days ago, because our IPs would benefit not only the watch industry, but also the medical industry.

So when people ask me if we are doing well, they are wrong. We are not just growing; we are booming. We have incredible people coming on board, like Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the Chairman of Nestlé. We are really expanding now.

Your creations – the H1, H2 and the H3 – they all follow a logical path. But the Skull Collection is totally futuristic; you cannot tell the time with precision. What is the story behind the watch?
We came up with the idea of changing the shape of the capillaries and using a skull motif, because it has been a very popular trend for the past ten years. We created the design and worked with the engineers and made just ten pieces only to show the possibilities of design. But, by last year, we had sold more than 135 pieces. This is a major success for HYT, even the Chinese, who do not like symbols of death, love this. There is also the underlying philosophical irony of a skull, a symbol of death, telling you the time, which waits for no one. But the Skull has been a huge success.

At present, you produce 400 watches a year; what is the magic number you would like to reach?
Our first milestone is to produce 1,000 pieces. This will not be possible this year as the market is very tough, but may happen next year as we expect the market to improve. The money that we have raised will also be used to standardise our collection. We need to standardise our movements and decrease the size and thickness of the movements because we would like to have a wrist piece that is 42mm. Then, we can also enter the ladies’ watch market. By early 2018, we are planning to bring out a super cool watch with our own movements, modules and the liquid system.

The H1 and the H2 have a similar way of telling time. How many ways can you create to tell time with liquid?
We already are working on projects to create the Moonphase, where the liquid will go into the moon and fill it. We can also have a Chronograph with liquid, we have so many ideas. We already have 24 references in our catalogue.

When will you reach the point where you will tell me that you are cutting down references?
We are already at a point where managing 24 references is enough. We are not looking to grow to 30, 25 is enough. We will remain at 25, because we have a good choice of design and colours, unless we come up with the H5 and the H6, which we will bring out soon.

Is the H1 your bestseller?
No, our two bestsellers are the H2 and the Skull. Soon, it will be the H4, because it has the light system.