The Neuchâtel company’s recent release, the HYT Conical Tourbillon, fulfills their decade-old promise to bring high-end watchmaking into the future with its hypnotic and technical design. The watch is a product of the collaboration between science and skilled watchmakers, featuring a conical tourbillon that improves the stability and performance of the timepiece. Master watchmaker Eric Coudray drew inspiration from Walter Prendel’s inclined balance tourbillon of 1928 to create this unique watch. The HYT Conical Tourbillon is a visually captivating and technically impressive timepiece that showcases the Swiss brand’s exclusive mechanical fluidic technology and their extraordinary vision of watchmaking.
What is the HYT Conical Tourbillon watch and what makes it unique?
The HYT Conical Tourbillon is a contemporary timepiece designed by HYT, an independent Swiss watchmaking brand that has been pushing the boundaries of high-end contemporary watchmaking for over 10 years. It is the most accomplished of the watches designed by HYT and represents the brand’s unique approach to watchmaking.
The watch is both animated and sensual thanks to the retrograde fluid hour markers and the turning of the conical tourbillon with its dynamic movements. The watch showcases a return to the purity of the brand’s creative sources and is a full expression of its singular character. The watch is both contemporary and refined, combining the most refined work of the Swiss watchmaking sector’s master craftsmen.
Both the front and back of the watch feature scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, providing protection and durability. The Laco 2S automatic movement, based on the Miyota 82S0, is visible through the transparent crystal case back. The stop-seconds function ensures precise time setting. Laco offers the option to upgrade to the Laco 31 caliber (base: Miyota 8315) for all models in the series, featuring a power reserve of over 60 hours and thermally blued screws.
The watch features a hand-wound mechanical movement beating at a frequency of 21,600 vib/h (3 Hz) and a suspended tourbillon movement with a spring-balance inclined at 30 degrees to horizontal, the escape wheel at 15 degrees, and a pallet at 23 degrees. The suspended tourbillon movement is a bold technical achievement that takes its inspiration directly from the works of German watchmaker Walter Prendel and his inclined balance tourbillon.
The conical tourbillon is a revision and reinterpretation of Prendel’s oblique tourbillon. Master watchmaker Eric Coudray, familiar with the complex works of Walter Prendel, decided to continue this work to improve the tourbillon, using this oblique tourbillon as his base.
