WORLDTEMPUS - 3 September 2010
Elizabeth Doerr
Hautlence is an independent brand whose name is an anagram of the word “Neuchâtel” - which is fitting, since this brand is at home in the city forming the capital of the Swiss canton of the same name. In fact, the city and canton of Neuchâtel love Hautlence so much that the brand was given a very special place to make its headquarters and watchmaker workshop: the former treasury, housed in an historic building of regal proportions from 1661.
Hautlence's founder and guiding light Guillaume Tétu is an engineer passionate about good watchmaking. His brand landed an instant hit among connoisseurs of fine, innovative, contemporary watchmaking in 2005 with the introduction of the manually wound HL collection. Its many beautiful evolutions currently culminate in a round ladies' version, which Tétu is now delivering to the various markets across the globe.
However, it is Tétu's latest creation that is generating a frenetic word-of-mouth buzz. Having only shown a preliminary prototype under table to select buyers and press at Baselworld 2010, the currently evolving HL2 has quickly become one of the most talked about watches of the season - before being officially introduced to the public in about four months from now.
The next generation prototype has already produced a few key changes designed to make the HL2 an instant collector hit. The automatic winding, for instance, is now able to wind to a full reserve of 45 hours in just six hours of wearing time. Tétu and his team headed up by master watchmaker Joachim Besoni and movement designer Florian Steiner have also changed details on the dial to improve visibility of the of the unusually striking movement. A change in the beveling of the rounded sapphire crystal spanning the length of the 50 mm gold case also allows the escapement located on the left side of the movement to immediately draw the eye into its magic sphere. The rotating escapement alone warranted three new patents for Hautlence, a fact that can only enhance the know-how of this young company with such a fresh view.
“Hautlence is really the story of a whole team,” Tétu explains of the accomplishment soon coming to fruition.
The only drawback is that the HL2 will solely be available in a homeopathic amount of pieces aimed at serious collectors: 28 in white gold and 28 in rose gold.
