The birth of HAUTLENCE, could have been the opening scene from a gritty independent film about two young men breaking away from the status quo.
The birth of HAUTLENCE, one of watchmaking's most exciting rising stars, could have been the opening scene from a gritty independent film about two young men breaking away from the status quo.
HAUTLENCE the film – shooting script
INT. BAR – NIGHT
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Renaud de Retz a slim bright-eyed young man and Guillaume Tetu, a broad-shouldered engineer whose keen mind is in perpetual motion, observe the table across from them. On the other table is seated a group of administrators and corporate types form a local watch factory. They are dressed in somber suits and are clearly management. Their Formality stands in marked contrast to Renaud and Guillaume's hip, young personas.
GUILLAUME
I'm frustrated at the lack of innovation in our industry. How can we create watches that appeal to our generation? That are not recreations…
RENAUD
…of watches from 100 years ago. If only there was a way to create a new vision of time telling.
GUILLAUME
But we have to respect the traditions of watchmaking, the finish, the craftsmanship. Imagine that applied to beautiful, visible mechanics. A jump hour watch with a huge retrograde minute hand. In between them, a massive connective rod.
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RENAUD
And a case that no one has ever seen before. That's it! We've got to do it!
The two grin with the heady charge of inspiration.
FLASH CUT TO PRESENT DAY
Well the truth is, it was in a scene much like this that HAUTLENCE was born in the watchmaking epicentre of Neuchâtel. De Retz, HAUTLENCE'S CEO explains, “Guillaume and I had been working together for a long time at a big manufacture. Five years ago we sat down and asked ourselves what we would like to see in a watch. We were frustrated at the lack of innovation. How can we create watches that appeal to our generation and are not recreations of the same timepieces everyone was making? We were also really interested in mechanics from other industries.
We wanted to show beautiful mechanics but reinterpreted in a really high end way.” That night their dream was born. Taking an anagram for Neuchâtel - HAUTLENCE – as their name, de Retz and Tetu embarked on an adventure that has made them one of the rising stars in contemporary watchmaking. In many ways, their ideas were perfectly ahead of their time. In our generation, fuelled by the success of watches such as Ulysse Nardin's Freak, Richard Mille's RM 001 and Urwerk's 103.03, the floodgates of creativity have been flung wide open.
Time telling has embraced three-dimensionality, and the machine aesthetic has become a dominating artistic force. In this contemporary universe, HAUTLENCE'S sublimely finished jump hour retrograde minute watch has captivated collectors with its bold design and imaginative method of depicting time. To be precise, their HL (the numbers 01-06 refer simply to different case and dial variations) watch utilizes a jump hour indicator as well as a retrograde minute hand.
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Featuring the manufacture's manual wind regulator moment vibrating at 21,600 beats per hour, the HL collection boasts a decorated jumping hour disc, retrograde minutes hand hand-applied indices, and a sapphire crystal glass with bevelled edges that reveals the signature connecting rod feeding power from minute hand to jumping hour. On the back, the sapphire crystal secured with screws reveals the watch's workings, and a small plate identifies and numbers the timepiece. Depending on the case material and treatment of the jump hour cover assembly; the watch can look like an antique instrument or like something from a sci-fi film. With 40 hours power reserve and water resistance to 30 meters, each model is released in a limited edition of 88 pieces.
However, the HL watches depart from traditional jump hour watches with one significant difference. In normal jump hour watches the movement drives a light aluminium disc printed with 12-hour indices. This disc is located below the dial and jumps forward at the en of each hour. The dial features an aperture through which the relevant hour index aperture. The jump hour display in HAUTLENCE'S watch inverts this arrangement. Instead of this disc, the hour indices are printed on a fixed disc. A cover is fitted on top of this disc. This cover has a hole in it that reveals the correct hour while obscuring the remaining indices. It is this cover in HAUTLENCE'S watches and not the fixed disc that jumps every 60 minutes precisely on the hour. “What is different between our watch and other jumping hours,” explains Tetu, HAUTLENCE'S COO and technical director, “is that for our watch, the entire cover assembly that floats over a fixed hour disc jumps. And we discovered we needed a lot more energy for this than in a traditional jump hour watch.” The problem is that the cover floating over HAUTLENCE'S fixed hour disc is made from solid gold and takes a huge amount of energy to enable it to jump correctly.
De Retz adds “At one point we were thinking of using exclusively aluminium for this jump hour assembly to make it light enough but this would defeat our objective of creating something very luxurious.” So they focused on how to create sufficient force to turn their jump hour indicator without excessively draining their watch's power reserve. Tetu explains: “Another solution was to use a stronger spring to drive the jump hour but this puts a big strain on the power reserve of the watch.” Tetu's ingenious solution was to use inertia to add force to the jumping hour mechanism. “We added a massive gold weight weighing 2 grams to add power to the spring without increasing the amount of energy needed to load it,” he said.
The HAUTLENCE watch toys with our perception of dimension. The balance wheel of the watch is placed directly in the center of the jump hour indicator, luring you to look into the depths of the watch. A retrograde minute hand loads a massive connecting rod to power the jump hour mechanism. This connecting rod was one of the key design elements dreamed up by HAUTLENCE at its inception.
By artistically fusing the time telling indications and the watch's regulating organ the watch is transformed into a form of kinetic performance art, drawing you into its sphere of influence. Similarly the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock indices of the watch are fixed just beneath the sapphire crystal so that they hover above the jump hour display, toying with your sense of perception.
Despite the searing modernism of their watches, traditional watchmaking values and quality are of enormous importance to Tetu and de Retz. The basic movement of the HAUTLENCE starts with a Peseux 7001, a dependable manual wind calibre that exhibits good torque and vibrates at 3 Hertz. But only 30 per cent of this is retained. Major components including the balance are made by HAUTLENCE in collaboration with their technical partners. Parts like the large conspicuous gear wheel driving the jump hour disc and placed directly within it are crafted using high tech LIGA, a combination of photolithography and electroplating that results in parts with near perfect tolerances.
HAUTLENCE also respects the traditions of high watchmaking. Take a look at the back of a HAUTLENCE watch and you'll be amazed at the decoration of the signature base plate expressed by refined Geneva Stripes and brilliant polished angles. Another testament to HAUTLENCE'S exceptional value is their dedication to customer service. “We will offer three years of warranty,” says Tetu. “When we service the watch, we will replace any part that has been changed or optimized in our ongoing development of the movement. We are a new brand and our legitimacy is based on how high our quality and how good our service can be.” HAUTLENCE'S launch in the US has been spearheaded by Westime, a retailer that de Retz feels, “Completely understands and supports the need for diversity and new creativity in high watchmaking.”
Revolution USA 1 – Brought to you by Westime
