Looking Back On 10 Years Of Ulysse Nardin’s Pioneering InnoVision Technology
Ulysse Nardin is the watch world’s pioneer in “new” technologies. Though it might seem anachronistic that a 163-year-old company famed for its marine chronometers would be the one to start a revolution of this type in mechanical watchmaking, that is just what Ulysse Nardin did by leading the search for the perfect materials and advanced geometery. Here we take a look back at the technologies leading up to the introduction of 2007’s InnoVision and why that particular concept watch was so notable.
On Thursday night HYT Watches announced their return to Australia in fine style, with the largest assembly of HYT watches in one place in the country ever, a setting of a 100ft Sunseeker boat that honoured the tagline of ‘Luxury Fluidics’ and a natural stage that recalled Blake’s sublime, with purple blasts of sheet and fork lightning illuminating Sydney Harbour. It all seemed fitting in a way. Minutes before the electrical storm that guests were all too flush from Mumm Champagne to care about, CEO Grégory Dourde had explained the ‘dynamo’ system in the HYT H4 (first introduced in the H4 Alinghi Special Edition watch) that converts mechanical power into light to allow the wearer to read time, even in low-light conditions. The effect of pressing the pusher and seeing two LEDs illuminate the bellows is underwhelming in daylight. But do it in the dark… The neon green fluid in the capillary illuminates, emitting a light of its own. Electricity flashing in and out of the boat to dramatic effect. But before we get too deep into the detail of these very different watches, here’s HYT’s 30-second crash course on how the hybrid fluid-mechanical watches work: “There are two flexible reservoirs…