HYT is one of those brands that’s cool for one thing, it has that one element to all of its designs, and it owns it, like knowing every word to R.E.M’s It’s the End of the World as We Know It in a bar after drinking several beers, live in that moment, enjoy that moment, for in that moment you are unstoppable. Sure, HYT could work on complications if it wanted to and at a push, I suppose it could make a watch without some form of liquid telling the time in it. But, who would want that? This is what HYT is. It can never be anything else because it has perfected the art of fluid mechanics, we’d all reject it if it didn’t include that. So, what does a brand like HYT do? They give us this, the H0 Soonow, a watch dedicated to all the clichés about carpe diem I made in this paragraph.
The use of skulls is not a new thing to HYT, but the H0 Soonow features a new shape on the dial with the capillary being formed into a new design for this piece. Like the other skull themed watches, the H0 Soonow doesn’t have a minute hand; you merely guess the time to the nearest quarter hour if possible. Now at this point, some other journalist might come up and say this reflects the theme of living in the moment as time is a rigid constant that forces us to enjoy right now and hope for a better tomorrow. I say a hand wouldn’t work anywhere on this watch and would spoil the aesthetic of the extruded columns emerging from the skull. It’s simple, but it cuts to the point.
The movement inside the H0 Soonow was developed alongside Chronode, making a set of springs and gears with really very little hydraulic pushing power force gel around a tube requires a lot of research. HYT is a team effort from both inside the company and out. The movement is hand wound and runs at 4Hz with a 65-hour power reserve. You can only see it through the exhibition caseback, even though the watch has the H0’s signature upturned fishbowl style crystal, the movement is completely obscured from the top. Also, to fit all that plumbing in there, the case is 48.8mm in diameter and 20.8mm thick.
You can get the watch in the company’s classic silver and green fluid colouration or the more patriotic red and blue colours if you desire, there will be 25 editions of both costing 75,000 Swiss Francs.
Visit HYT here.
