At the new HYT headquarters on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel, CEO Vincent Perriard yesterday presented master watchmaker Dominique Renaud as an important new addition to the brand's fast-growing team.
Although Renaud will continue the activites under the umbrella of his own company, Dominique Renaud SA, based in Eysins in the canton of Vaud, he will become the main human interface between watchmaking in the classic sense and the advanced fluid technology that is unique to HYT.
Renaud has already been working behind the scenes with HYT over the past few months but will now spearhead the setting-up of production and assembly facilities at the new lakeside premises in Neuchâtel. He will be responsible for complications at the brand and one of his main remits will be to find innovative ways to provide more power from the movement to drive more fluidic indications on the dial.
Over the medium to long term, Vincent Perriard even promises a "paradigm shift" in watchmaking, which he compares to inventions as significant as the tourbillon or the perpetual calendar. Although he was cagey about the details, the general hint is that the fluids (which are developed, produced and assembled in modules at the sister company Preciflex in the centre of Neuchâtel) will actually be integrated within the watch movement in the future.
"We have some innovative ideas under development, advancements that will bring much more power to the motorisation of HYT's movements. This in turn will allow us to introduce even more complications that unite mechanics and liquid in one wristwatch," he said.
