With daring designs, five- and six-figure price tags, and production measured in the hundreds of timepieces annually, Hautlence is a boutique brand which produces timepieces for the upper echelon of watch enthusiasts.  Part of MELB Holdings (the Meylan family & same group which owns H. Moser), Hautlence clearly revels in its approach to watchmaking.   Case in point, the Vortex Gamma Tron seen here. Featuring a white case with blue photo-luminescent edges that are incorporated in the material rather than on the surface that make for absolutely stunning “lume shots”, this watch is hard to ignore.

The movement and dial are also quite neat – hours on a rotating chain, retrograde minute scale, power reserve, and an off axis one-hour tourbillon.
Shifting between light and dark in a most unexpected way: Vortex Gamma TRON. #SIHH2018 pic.twitter.com/snkSkjDh0p
? HAUTLENCE (@HAUTLENCE88) January 16, 2018

The original Vortex debuted a few years ago, followed late last year by the Vortex Gamma, a super exclusive series limited to just eight pieces in each of three colors.  All watches share the unique case design which incorporates six sapphire crystals, but what makes the Vortex Gamma true special is the use of a ceramic composite material which is amenable to case production in any color or shade (with the requisite expertise, of course).  The materials is lighter than titanium though strong, and can be finished in a variety of ways (e.g. polished, bru...