Hautlence is a brand that has made its name on watches that balance the oft-precarious line between avant-garde timekeeping displays, an innovative use of materials, and more traditional horological sensibilities. At the SIHH fair back in January, the 14-year old brand added two updates to the brand’s Vortex lineup that straddled the difference seamlessly.
The Hautlence Vortex Gamma Magma
The first thing you notice about the Vortex Gamma Magma is its bright-orange, highly-faceted design. The color is achieved through the use of HLLightColor, an interesting material borrowed from the automotive and aerospace industries that can take on any sort of hue. HLLightColor is created using ceramic nanotube particles and is four times lighter than titanium. It also has a higher tolerance than most other materials allowing complex finishing operations such as alternating brushed, polished, and sandblasted surfaces. The watch’s case is made from six three-dimensional sapphire crystals. Can you see how the lines of this Tron video game are similar to the lines at play on the case and dial of the Hautlence Gamma Vortex timepieces" Credit: Chris Ainsworth
The team at Hautlence says that the watch is inspired by the 1982 film Tron. Directed by Steven Lisberger, the science-fiction film was praised for its groundbreaking visuals when it was first released and quickly gained a cult following. Hautlence envisions something similar happening with the Vortex lineup: The archit...