HYT Tourbillon Conique Midnight Blue, When Gold Elevates the Mechanics of Fluids

Some watches tell the time. Others tell a story. With the new Tourbillon Conique Midnight Blue, HYT continues a unique horological adventure where traditional mechanics engage in dialogue with fluid technology. More than an aesthetic evolution, this new limited edition dresses the manufacture’s most spectacular creation in its noblest material: 5N rose gold. An encounter between warmth, light and depth that showcases one of the most fascinating complications in contemporary watchmaking.

True to its avant-garde DNA, HYT does not seek to reinvent its philosophy. The Maison enriches it. Gold does not come here to steal the spotlight from technical prowess. It acts as a setting designed to magnify what has defined the brand’s identity since its creation: the fluidic display of time.

An architecture where blue becomes the true protagonist

At first glance, the Tourbillon Conique Midnight Blue captivates with its interplay of contrasts.

The case combines a 5N rose gold frame with a titanium middle case coated in deep black DLC. This two-tone architecture naturally highlights the elements animated by the blue liquid, HYT’s true visual signature.

The coloured fluid circulates through the borosilicate glass capillary tube to display the hours in a retrograde manner, while the three spheres orbiting the conical tourbillon echo this same intense hue. The central minute hand, also dressed in blue, completes an ensemble where every movement draws the eye.

The result goes far beyond a mere stylistic exercise. The colour seems to come alive inside the watch, amplified by the warmth of the gold surrounding it without ever competing with it.

A demonstration of high technicality

Beneath its spectacular dress beats the in-house manual-winding calibre 701-TC.

Oscillating at 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz), this movement develops all its complexity around a conical tourbillon that is particularly rare in the watchmaking landscape.

Its balance spring is tilted at 30 degrees from the horizontal, while the escape wheel adopts an angle of 15 degrees and the anchor an angle of 23 degrees. This complex architecture draws directly on the research conducted by German watchmaker Walter Prendel, himself an heir to the work of master watchmaker Alfred Helwig on inclined tourbillons.

In the early 2020s, master watchmaker Eric Coudray, winner of the Gaïa Prize and a recognised specialist in grand complications, took up this research to develop a contemporary interpretation suited to the world of HYT.

The result is a spectacular movement bringing together 533 components, 159 of which are for the tourbillon cage alone. Including the dial and case elements, the watch totals no fewer than 750 components, each assembled and checked by hand.

Three spheres in perpetual motion

The mechanical spectacle does not stop at the tourbillon.

At the centre of the dial, three spheres filled with blue liquid orbit the conical cage at different rhythms. The first completes four rotations per minute, the second five, while the third makes six.

This difference in speed produces a permanent choreography whose combinations evolve without ever repeating exactly within the same hour.

Combined with the retrograde motion of the liquid indicating the hours, this animation gives the watch a permanent impression of life, as if energy were circulating freely inside the timepiece.

Liquid time, HYT’s signature

Since its creation in 2012, HYT has pursued a singular ambition: to reinvent the display of time using a fluid animated by a mechanical movement.

This proprietary technology transmits the energy developed by the calibre to a fluidic system capable of displaying the hours through the movement of two immiscible liquids inside a capillary tube.

This approach draws directly on the earliest time measuring methods used several millennia ago while relying on the most advanced technologies of contemporary microfluidics.

With the Tourbillon Conique Midnight Blue, this philosophy probably reaches its most accomplished expression.

A creation reserved for a privileged few

Produced in just eight pieces worldwide, the HYT Tourbillon Conique Midnight Blue is aimed above all at collectors of independent high watchmaking.

Each piece is individually engraved and offered at a price of 355,000 Swiss francs excluding taxes.

More than a watch, this extremely exclusive edition illustrates HYT’s ability to push the boundaries of traditional watchmaking by combining mechanical research, scientific innovation and aesthetic daring. An approach that continues to set the Swiss manufacture apart in a world where few houses are capable of offering such a personal vision of the measurement of time.

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