Its name describes its mission

With numerous watch bands producing fine timepieces, and with new brands popping up annually, it is difficult to make one's mark in this industry strictly with design innovations. Especially for a new brand that must make the most of its first showing and must make the world take notice at its genesis. (International Watch was the first U.S. publication to notice HAUTLENCE, in our May 2005 issue, before the brand was even available in this country. HAUTLENCE is now available at select retailers.) Young brands must be bold and daring without going too far and alienating traditionalists. But while young firms do not have the benefit of history and reputation, their youth an be a license to pursue avant-garde designs.

The brainchild of seasoned watch-industry veterans Renaud de Retz, Guillaume Tetu and Jean Plazenet, HAUTLENCE is a young brand that carries its mystique and origins in its name. HAUTLENCE conveys haute watchmaking and elegance in every enunciation (using the French spelling), while the firm's name is an anagram of its esteemed birth city, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Following this alluring and mysterious name is the brand logo, the Mobius band, that figure-eight mathematical symbol for infinity, a sentiment one desires in precision mechanical watch. Running on pure human ingenuity, a mechanical watch has always been a symbol of man's great endeavors to capture and quantify time, to make the infinite seem finite en one's hands.

The Mobius “infinity” symbol on the crown offers a clue that HAUTLENCE is not a traditional Swiss watch company.

An exploded view of the HAUTLENCE manually wound movement shows the unusual, top-heavy dial configuration.

The HAUTLENCE models HL01 through HL06 are all wristwatches of such a unique design that they startle the eye on first glance. The design concept for these watches is not merely cosmetic, and this is obvious at the first attempt to read the time. The innovation of design reaches deep into the case, beyond-wound movement. Form and function are one in the HAUTLENCE HL series, with a subdial on the left indicating the jumping hour through a number window. A quick glance to the top right allows exact minutes readings in a fan-shaped partial dial. Seconds are found continuously moving in a small subdial to the bottom right. All of these components, which to the untrained eye appear as separate pieces, retain a forty-hour power reserve.

Dual views

Interestingly, HAUTLENCE designers have broken up time into its three most important basic parts and laid them out clearly on the watch's face. For each model there is a variation in materials or hour-number visibility or surface decoration. All the pieces in this collection have sapphire crystals, front and back, clearing the way for secure dual views of the inner workings of the movement. The solid gold case is a truncated tonneau shape that is 10.5mm thick for wide readability. Water resistance is thirty meters. The elegant alligator straps are kept secure by a triple fastener folding buckle.

Front and rear views offer a clear view of HAUTLENCE's machined look. Hours, minutes and seconds each earn a distinctive subdial. When the hour jumps, the connecting rod shifts, creating a dramatic motion reminiscent of a piston in action.

The HAUTLENCE dial can be startling at first, while its depth adds a rare sense of dimension. The markers are placed directly onto the sapphire crystal.

The price variations for the HAUTLENCE HL01 through HL06 models are of simple distinction: the 04, 05, and 06 in white gold retail for (dollars) 42'900; 01 in yellow gold and 02 and 03 in rose gold retail for (dollars) 39'900. With the time and investment needed to create the deep inner workings of a new movement concept, only eighty-eight pieces are made per model.

International Watch Magazine October 2006 - By Jordan A. Rothacker