During my first visit to Geneva back in 2019, I remember visiting Les Ambassadeurs and seeing for the first time one of the original HYT watches. The concept of using mechanical bellows to pump a fluid around a watch to indicate time was like nothing I had ever seen. Whilst I think it is fair to say the original HYT watches lacked a certain level of “polish”, I was very impressed by the concept.
Sadly, during the pandemic, HYT unfortunately had to close its doors; it was sad to think that their totally unique concept might have been lost.
However, all was not lost. Under the guidance of industry veteran Davide Cerrato, the mind behind the Tudor Black Bay, HYT has made an impressive comeback having launched first the Hastroid and now the Moonrunner in quick succession – watches which have certainly elevated the HYT concept to a whole new level.
A couple of weeks ago, our partners at The Limited Edition hosted another of their fantastic collectors’ evening in Central London with Davide Cerrato (if you’re interested in attending such events, reach out to Pietro at TLE). As always, this was another great evening and a great opportunity to learn more about HYT, and how the brand has been revitalised from the ground up under the leadership of Davide Cerrato and team.
Before the event, I was fortunate to be able to interview Davide to learn more.
In Conversation with Davide Cerrato, CEO and Creative Director of HYT
Davide Cerrato, CEO and Creative Director of HYT Watches
WA: Your journey to becoming the CEO of HYT has seen you work in many roles within the watch industry over the years, working at the likes of Panerai, Tudor and Montblanc, however you didn’t always work in watches. To start with, can you tell us a bit about your career to date, and how you found your way to working in watches?
DC: I’ve been working in watches now for 22 years, and before that, I spent 15 years in completely other markets and categories. I studied both industrial design at the polytechnic in Torino, and then went to business school. I joined Ferrero, with Ferrero Rocher and Nutella, at the headquarters in Italy for 3 years in marketing. They sent me to France, I started learning French and lived in Normandy for 3 more years, and then I moved to Paris.
I joined Thomson Multimedia in consumer electronics, heading up marketing and working in design – I oversaw strategic design of the TVs and VCRs back when home cinema was exploding. We worked on the first plasma and LCD screens, the first wireless connection, the first interactive TV that connected to the internet! It was super interesting because it was futuristic, with a lot of research and development. I worked for them in Europe and the US also.
I returned to Italy in the early 2000s, joining Armando Testa. I was there for 18 months and then I really wanted to get back into business, a company and a brand, because that’s what I really love – building up and developing a brand. I wanted to get into luxury and into watches and had the opportunity to get in contact through a head-hunter with Panerai.
WA: What made you want to get into luxury and into watches?
DC: So I have a particular brain structure which is even across the right and left hemisphere. Most people are right or left, more analytical or more artistic and creative – I can do both equally. In the beginning of my career, it was a bit confusing. I found applied mathematics, multi-dimensional spaces super easy to do, but also design and drawing, imagining things for the marketing part. That’s why I did marketing, then advertising, then marketing and design.
I felt I really wanted to go into luxury because it is where the emotional part is the strongest, creating a bond with the brand, the products… and watches are perfect for that.
HYT Moonrunner White Neon
WA: Looking back at what you achieved at these brands must give you a real sense of pride, especially with the huge success of things like the Tudor Black Bay. Are there any standout achievements that you are especially proud of?
DC: I don’t want to appear too proud of myself, but I would say all of them. Panerai was in the early 2000s after the acquisition, when the brand was exploding, and we found a way of strongly expressing the military, tool watch, adventure things in a very powerful way.
Tudor was a one-of-a-kind experience, and it is so nice to see where the brand stands today. It was not only the Black Bay, the first heritage re-interpretation I did was the Heritage Chrono in 2010 and I believe it was one of the very early and first vintage re-interpretations. It did really well, the Black Bay followed, and everything we did contributed in a substantial way to the presence of vintage which is still there.
Montblanc was also very powerful with the 1858 Geosphere, which is an iconic product once again. Also, the integration of Minerva into the high-end chronograph mono-pusher.
I think each time, we elevated the brand to a new level, reached new customers, caught the attention of the watch world. Now we are doing the same with HYT – resetting and repositioning the brand into the future, with this crazy, alien, technology, expressing what the watchmaking of tomorrow can be.
WA: Panerai, Tudor, Montblanc and HYT are all very different brands. As a creative and designer, how do you tap into the history and DNA of these brands – is it the same process that yields different results, or do you tailor your process depending on the brand?
DC: Interesting question, it’s a similar process that I have fine tuned through the years. It’s a very special way of absorbing everything about the brand, going in very deep. People say I am like an archaeologist because I have been capable of going back in history and finding special moments, special things – chromosomes that we could use to rebuild the DNA of the brand.
With HYT it is super interesting as it is just a year old, so it is more about inventing, shaping, creating. It is more exciting to imagine things to come, to define the course of the brand, it’s expression, it’s design, it’s language, it’s tonality.
A big part of the process comes from your experience, my experience of more than 20 years, and a lot comes from intuition, from flavour; I absorb and absorb, but at a certain moment, all the elements I absorb combine in a particular way. As soon as I have found the first aggregation, everything comes naturally – it becomes clear how to evolve the design, the technical content, the movement, the communication, which collabs or colour world work. Everything comes out in an organic, enjoyable, passionate way. I really love my job!
WA: It’s a great place to be, having a process that enables you to tap into all those aspects, and everything comes together in the right place.
DC: At the very heart of me is a desire to build, to develop, to create, to aggregate, to carve. At the beginning of the industrial design course is architecture. Designing a watch is similar to designing a building – of course the scale is smaller, but I found the same pleasure, the same complexity, the same richness in a watch as in a fantastic building.
When you see the Moonrunner, and you see the complexity and usage of space in the movement, it’s fantastic. It makes me think about when I lived in France, turning on the TV and Pei, the Chinese architect who designed the pyramid of the Louvre, was explaining how he designed the project not only thinking about the volumes of the space, but also the flow of people inside the space, how the space would be lived.
Watches are the same, it’s not just thinking about shapes and volumes, and balance between empty and full spaces, but also what happens… like with the Moonrunner the moon is rotating, the discs are rotating, the minutes are rotating, the liquid is flowing, it’s glowing in the dark.
WA: I can see what you mean, and it makes sense when you think about it. Touching on that, what do you think are some of the most important considerations when designing a watch?
DC: To express the DNA of the brand. Either to understand and respect, or even improve the keycodes of the personality of the brand. It is volumes, balance between empty and full spaces, readability, accuracy, wearability and ergonomics, the strap and buckle, how easy it is to open or close, how safe it is, waterproofness… level of quality is paramount.
Years spent at Rolex embedded within me an obsession for reliability and quality, it is the mother of everything. Without it, you can do whatever you want around it and it’s not going to work.
That’s why we invested so much in the re-foundation of the HYT project to ensure the quality is top notch, that we are dramatically increasing the quality, the finishing, the luxury expression of the watches.
WA: I can still remember the first time that I saw a HYT watch, and it was a H0 model. The idea of using liquid and bellows to tell time struck a chord with me as it was totally unique and different. But it was too thick and wasn’t very comfortable to wear. It felt almost… incomplete, where the new releases are far more refined. Can you remember the first time you saw HYT, and if so, what were your thoughts about the brand and the watches?
DC: I remember when it first launched, and to me it was very natural. The idea of associating liquid to a watch was already in my mind. At a certain moment by myself, I was thinking about making a new watch with an original old dial and old movement, and to express the preservation of this similarly to how in natural history museums, samples of plants and animals are preserved in big jars of liquid, that kind of idea.
I was thinking the watch should be transparent, there should be a liquid which is luminescent, then it would be like in those museums – an alchemic, mysterious, magical space, but I didn’t have the time to develop it.
Three or four years later, HYT launched. It was a completely different expression, and by far more sophisticated, more technology-oriented with an incredible engineering approach and development. To me, it completely made sense.
WA: So it’s a brand which really resonated with you from day one.
DC: Absolutely. When I got in contact with the new investors last year, I dug into the brand to see what had been done. It was super clear that there was huge potential and complexity. I wanted to find the balance, to integrate the double spirit of the watch, with fluid and mechanics working together, and that’s why we carved the name Meca-Fluid technology. To explain something, you need a name for it as the first step. Meca-fluid means the mechanical comes first, it’s a high-end mechanical movement which can operate a piece of alien technology, this fluid technology, to give a hybrid display of time shown with fluid, with other functions and complications developed and managed by the mechanical.
It’s absolutely unique, and it’s so rare in such a crowded and historic market to have something that is really outside the box, giving something radically new.
WA: When HYT had to close its doors during the pandemic, it was sad to think that this concept of using liquid to tell the time might disappear from the watch industry. However, when I read the news that HYT was being reborn under your leadership, I was looking forward to seeing it. What was it that motivated you to take on this new role with HYT – was it an easy decision?
DC: Yes, absolutely. I am in love with this challenge, and I immediately saw the potential. I invested myself in the project, and we have reset the organisation, the internal team, the team of suppliers which have been incredible, despite the difficult times in terms of supply chain. We got the first prototype out after 4 months, presented 3 products at Watches & Wonders after 7 months, and now have 4 more products 5 months later. It is out of this world, and I really have to thank our suppliers for the support, passion and dedication they gave us.
WA: When you rebuilt almost the whole business, essentially from the ground up, what were the biggest challenges you faced, notwithstanding the fact you did it so quickly?
DC: I think it is important to explain what happened to everyone. The previous company, HYT SA, went bankrupt in March 2021. Then, a new group of investors decided to create the new company, called KTS SA, in Switzerland. I joined, I participate, we are all convinced of the potential of the brand.
We created a new team, a new team of suppliers, and we bought the assets of the previous HYT – the IP, the design, the watches in stock, to be able to take these and relaunch the brand, reshaping the strategy under a new design, new quality, industrial and commercial approaches and so on to reset the brand for the long term. The new phase, the new design and so on is really a new organisation, new people and a new vision.
The key element of the project itself, when we bought back the assets, was a fluidic module that was 95% developed but not finished. We added 10 years of learning to the new generation module, which is also a little bit smaller in terms of diameter of the capillary, and thinner. We made the watch thinner, lighter, more comfortable to wear, and in terms of quality it was really superior to the past ones. We focused on this and finished the 5% of development remaining, and that is now the fluidic module we use in our new watches.
For the movement, the company had developed a new movement, the 501, with Eric Coudray. It was not really known, as it was used for very few H5s, not more than 15 or 20 pieces. It is very reliable with an interesting innovation of the big cam wheel on the back which perfectly synchronises fluidic and mechanical time.
We used this as a base, modifying I would say 40% to do the Hastroid, 60% to do the Moonrunner – the first high complication of HYT, with a triple calendar and moon on a single axis, and modified I would say 80% on a third complication which will be launched in 2 months.
The final point was the habillage: the casing, the crown, strap, waterproofness and so on. We brought in new suppliers to set up a very high-end approach on the case. The case is 70 components, the dial is 50 components – the watch is incredibly sophisticated and complex. It is very customisable as well, so if a customer comes and says I like this, but I’d like to change this and this, we can quickly answer and deliver the piece in 4 or 5 months.
WA: I think that what you and your team have created with the Hastroid and Moon Runner watches is fantastic, and has been achieved impressively quickly. What were the biggest challenges you and the team faced in bringing the new designs to life?
DC: A big challenge was that after 10 years, to answer the promise that the brand made to the watch world, to bring fun and excitement with the fluid. Finally, we are there!
The watches needed to be slimmer, lighter, more technical, and more expressive watchmaking, they need to be reliable, quality and so on. I think we came up with a futuristic, modern design which is very recognisable, and that’s why we are keeping the same case for all the models to help with recognition and keep in mind the identity of the new design.
They are coloured, they are luminescent and visible – they are fantastic advertising on their own on the wrist and are recognisable from afar which is very important. They are all limited, so they are also rare, you can choose your number, and are very different from the previous HYT watches.
At 13mm, the case thickness is like a normal automatic chronograph. The weight of the Hastroid is 80g, the dial is transparent, you see around the bellows and behind, you see that the oscillator looks like a skeleton thing, but at the same time futuristic and modern. We decided on the movement to go for a modern, industrial futuristic finishing. It is all treated in DLC, there are some brushed finishes made with laser – there’s a lot of laser engraving.
We played a lot with luminescence, and the watch at the end is incredible, it is by far thinner, is by far lighter, but still the diameter is 48mm, but frankly speaking it wears more like a 44 or 45.
I think in terms of design the wearability of the watch is super strong, and colours, the design, the bellows, the fluid… actually, we are working on new colours of fluid to bring in next year. And for the high complication we bring in 2 months, we will bring in the fluid not only in the display of the hour, but elsewhere.
WA: This new dawn for HYT has been very positively received, and so you must be quite excited by this and for the future of HYT. Looking ahead, what are your goals for the HYT over the next few years?
DC: The main goal is to grow the brand in a healthy and sustainable way. In the first year we will produce between 120 and 130 watches, keeping it below demand. Geneva Watch Days was very positive, and we have more demand than we can produce, and that’s how I want to keep it.
We want to grow very progressively, in a very valuable way. Everything is limited in 27 pieces, and when the series is finished it’s finished.
WA: Why is it specifically 27 pieces?
DC: Because it is a number that comes over and over in space – there is 27% black matter in the universe, the moon is 27% the volume of the Earth and so on. Our names are Hastroid, Moonrunner, the next one… the colours are green nebula, supernova blue, white neon – they are all inspired by space, and it works. People find there is really a link, it’s easy to understand, and it’s new.
I think we’re the only brand that can sit in that territory with legitimacy.
WA: Thank you very much for your time, and best of luck with the new release!
DC: Thank you!
To learn more about Davide Cerrato and HYT, please visit HYTWatches.com or our partners at The Limited Edition.
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