Grégory Dourde, CEO of HYT Watches and Preciflex
June 4, 2018
For the Horological Society of New York’s June, 2018, lecture, Grégory Dourde, CEO of HYT Watches and Preciflex, spoke on one aspect of horology we don’t often consider – fluidic horology.
Armed with a magnificent display case housing state-of-the-art HYT wristwatches,
Dourde took HSNY on a journey through time, through the flow of liquids. An art dating back approximately 4,000 years, water clocks go down in history as one of the oldest instruments used to measure time. Today, HYT pays homage to the discoveries of our ancestors with a scaled-down version designed for the wrist.
With the purpose of bringing to life and proposing a new representation of the flow of time, HYT captures the essence of the centuries-old practice with multiple liquids. Dourde guided HSNY on the composition of their H0 model wristwatch, which contains a green liquid that represents time passed, and a transparent liquid that depicts the future. They meet – not mix – in the now.
A modern master of fluidic horology, Dourde shared the obstacles HYT overcame in order to bring their inventions to life, including the creation of their iconic vibrant fluids, produced in-house and injected in air-tight capillaries – both of which were produced with the help of experts in the fields of medicine and science. Unique technologies to HYT’s wristwatches also includes a light module, which the team invented with no batteries in order to preserve the horological spirit of fluidic time. Instead, HYT models include a microgenerator that creates alternating currents via two LEDs. When it came to manual priming, HYT developed a special machine and process to extract and inject air to produce an air-tight capillary created to stand the test of time.
The lecture was a fascinating look at how the centuries-old invention of fluidic time continues to evolve and be interpreted in ingenious ways, showcased here through the work of HYT.
HSNY thanks Grégory Dourde for his fascinating lecture!
