Hands-On The HYT H0 Silver Edition

Several years after the introduction of the H1, and following several other hydro-mechanical wristwatches, each one more experimental than the next, HYT has decided to revisit the company’s initial concept and tone things down a bit. The H0 ("H-zero") is a much more conservative product than some of the brand’s most recent projects, like the rectangular H3 or the very bold HYT Skull. And in some ways, it looks like HYT playing it safe. But the company is actually taking a bit of a gamble with this watch, and that’s why I wanted to take a closer look here.

Like it or not, the company’s most popular watches are its most extreme ones, and it isn’t even close they say. According to HYT, they can’t make enough Skull watches. The company’s unique take on one of watchmaking’s oldest and most emblematic motifs has led to seven separate references (yes, seven), which is as many as all the H3 and the H4 models put together.

HYT was under no pressure to make something that felt new, but they did, for several reasons. First, because all brands want new customers, even when things are going well, and maybe especially when things are going well. A fresh design at an entry-level price point is a sure way of attracting new interest. Second, because when you’ve decided to go to one extreme, the only way to go is the other extreme.

The biggest challenge HYT has faced since launching in 2012 is getting people to understand how their watches work, or, in other words, how their movements push fluids through a transparent capillary (never mind why you’d want a watch that displays the time using fluids in the first place). The company managed this using an open-worked dial to its advantage, in order to show the expansion and compression of the bellows that drive the fluid around the dial.

Now that customers and potential customers have seen the inner workings exposed and are familiar with the concept, HYT feels it can pull the dial over some of the watch parts. The bellows are still visible, but only partially – you can see them fully on the movement side. The face of the watch is much cleaner, and the first beneficiary is the time-display. The H0 is the first watch that focuses on the watch’s functions themselves, not how it functions.

In fact, there is strictly nothing new inside this watch. It’s the same movement that was used in the H1, the first watch in the series, and which we saw again in the H4. It’s a movement originally developed by Jean-Francois Mojon/Chronode for HYT, and it’s unique in that it uses a pair of bellows to pump two liquids through a small tube during a 12-hour period. The colored liquid fills the visible section of the tube until it hits six o’clock on the right side of the dial, at which point the clear liquid pushes back all the way until six o’clock on the left side.

The movement is hand-wound and has a 65-hour power reserve, which it displays on the dial side between two and three o’clock. The minutes can be read approximatively using the fluid display, or more precisely via the sub-dial at 12 o’clock, while the seconds are also displayed on a smaller sub-dial at nine o’clock. It's interesting to note the relatively traditional finishing on the movement itself, considering how non-traditional the watch is overall. It's a nice touch and nod to history.

It doesn’t really matter that the H0 uses a movement that already exists in HYT’s collection, because it is housed in a watch that is unlike anything the company has made before. What makes the H0 different is what it does not have. Instead of modifying the base design by adding components, HYT has decided to remove two elements that every other HYT watch has (as does the great majority of watches) and those are the bezel and the lugs.

When the watch was unveiled, Stephen quickly identified the crystal as its coolest feature, and I agree. It’s also the most transformative feature of the watch. Not only does it change the overall look of the watch and how it is read – the crystal dome wraps around the liquid, making it possible to view the time from a side angle – it also lightens up the watch, literally, by allowing more light to hit the dial.

The watch isn’t perfect though. Those who know HYT and buy into the hydro-mechanical concept don’t seem fazed by the size of these watches. However, a 48mm case is always going to be too big for many, myself included. It’s wearable, but only just. Because it has no lugs, it’s actually smaller than many of the other watches in HYT’s collection, but it’s a shame the H0 couldn’t come in at a more generally wearable size.

In fact, it ends up looking a little like a diving watch, which I know it isn’t – it is water-resistant to 30 meters and comes with a screw-down titanium crown, but it lacks a bezel, the single most important component for an underwater timekeeper – but the size of the watch, the bell-shaped crystal, and the absence of lugs are all features that remind me of the depth gauges and compasses made by Panerai in the 1950s. It's even more striking on the black and green version, though you can still get a hint of it on the silver and blue edition I have here.

HYT is creating three separate editions of the H0, each one priced at $39,000. The plan was to make 15 pieces of each, but Cloé Biessy, the team's Communications Manager, has since confirmed that due to the popularity of the watches during Baselworld, HYT has decided against making them a limited production. The silver, orange, and black editions all share the same basic titanium case, but the black edition will be DLC-coated. Of the three, it’s perhaps the most representative of the brand since it uses the brand’s familiar neon colour for the fluid, hands and power reserve. Personally, I prefer the silver edition. It’s the bravest of the series, and if HYT wanted to freshen things up, this is the watch that comes closest to that objective.

For more information, visit HYT Watches online.