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How HYT used rare bones for the new Skull Vida

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May 2017


The new timepiece – released in a super limited edition of only five unique examples – uses ivory from extinct mammoths to craft a stunning dial.

How HYT used rare bones for the new Skull Vida

The Skull collection by HYT has brought us some of the most intense timepieces by the relatively young Swiss watchmaker. The watches have always been provocative, certainly unique, and of course always powered by fluid mechanics – the brand’s signature.

The Skull Vida is the latest addition to the collection, and it is the most exclusive and arguably the most philosophical of them all. The new watch will be the most limited edition ever by HYT. In fact it’s an understatement to call this a limited edition, because we’ll only see five pieces.

How HYT used rare bones for the new Skull Vida

And each one will be unique since organic materials have been used in crafting each timepiece. Mammoth ivory from many millennia ago has been incorporated into each watch, making each one all the more exclusive.

The objective behind the Skull collection is to remind us of the ephemeral nature of time, and indeed life. The collection first came to existence inspired by the Mexican culture of Dia de los Muertos, where death is celebrated in the same way as life.

But that wasn’t enough, according to CEO Grégory Dourde:

“We felt that we could go even further still by literally combining life and the unique flow of time with our fluid technology and a dial made from an authentic material, a true living sculpture. The Skull Vida was born from this all-encompassing, holistic vision.”

To do so, they decided to use ivory from mammoths that roamed the Siberian plains tens of thousands of years ago. It’s fitting that a so-called “Skull” timepiece would actually incorporate bones into its design, and the fact that those bones are prized tusks of an extinct species makes the end result even more exclusive, and indeed audacious.

How HYT used rare bones for the new Skull Vida

As is always the case, the dial is in the shape of an oversized skull and is crafted from ivory. The material has been sculpted and embedded in the watch via a series of delicate operations carried out by special artisans. Each dial is completely unique and offers different textures and designs.

The beautiful dial is surrounded by the brand’s capillary system, in which the separation point of liquids indicates the hours. The seconds are displayed in its left eye, the power reserve in the right eye.

How HYT used rare bones for the new Skull Vida

The new watch comes in the standard Skull 51mm black DLC titanium case with polished, micro-blasted and satin finishes. It is, as usual, powered by the brand’s exclusive mechanical hand-wound movement and delivered 65 hours of autonomy.

In another novelty for HYT, for the first time ever the watchmaker has developed a fabric strap. In order to offset the death motif on the dial, the beautiful strap features fine embroidery in a floral theme, a symbol of life and rejuvenation.