The spectacular new HAUTLENCE HL2.0

Since it’s beginning in 2004 HAUTLENCE has grown to become a serious name in the world of Haute Horlogerie. With their newest model, the HL2.0, they really show what’s possible with their combination of design and technology.

From the start, Hautlence has created rather unusual looking watches. Although the first models used the conventional and super reliable Peseux 7001 as base caliber, nothing was conventional about the Hautlence HL and HLs collections. The new HL2.0 takes it even a step further. They call it their ‘Second Philosophy of Timekeeping’….

The Hautlence HL2.0 is a small wonder of technique and design. Not only visually innovative, but technically it’s also offering some very interesting innovations. The photos of the HL2.0 are made by Malik Bahri. Just look at how the crystal is wrapped around the beautiful “dial” and movement.

The  development of Hautlence’s HL2.0 new movement is unique. In synergy with engineer-consultant Philippe Ruedin, Hautlence created an “open source” development path, which gave independent brands the opportunity to work on a common base movement, the ASXP 1300 movement, making it easy to customize. The base of the movement was redesigned in-house by Hautlence to meet the requirements for this new ‘Philosophy of Timekeeping’.

The hours are on a 12-link chain (see photo below) that moves every hour… But there’s more… much more! To ensure that the system has enough power, no less than four dedicated mechanism have been developed to manage the speed regulation, including an inertial friction system, a one way 360° rotation control system, and a dedicated barrel to provide power to the complications. Hautlence developed its own automatic winding movement with dedicated wheels with optimized gear teeth shapes. But the most remarkable is that the complete escapement system (including the plate, bridges and wheels) moves to counter balance the effects of gravity on the movement’s precision. This is a first in watchmaking history!

The entire escapement assembly of the HL2.0 moves with the jumping of every hour. Driven by the motion of the hour chain, the escapement assembly will move to a new position ever hour, jumping 60° from its former position, in an axis parallel to the wrist. This means it makes four complete rotations every single day! Even if the watch is not worn, the movement of the escapement itself will balance negative effects of gravity on the precision of the watch. On the photo above you can see the escapement assembly to the right of the hour-chain and above the rotating weight of the automatic winding system.

A connecting rod system guides the rotation to control acceleration and deceleration, allowing the hours to jump smoothly. The jumping hour chain is driven by a lever system (see movie), with a one way 360° rotation control system, the chain moves smoothly without any interruption, requiring just two seconds to jump to the next hour.

The third module is the speed regulator which controls the energy. And how does it work? Well, first you need to know that a dedicated barrel supplies the energy to move the escapement and jumping hour chain. The barrel starts to deliver energy when the retrograde minutes jump back to zero, using the lever and a star assemble system to free a 360° rotation mechanism. During that rotation, to control the speed of rotation, a speed regulator with inertial friction is started and controls the motion of the system. This allows the hour to jump in just two seconds.

If you’re interested you can look at the HAUTLENCE website and keep posted on the latest news via the HAUTLENCE Facebook page.