Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Automatic Chronograph Diamond Yellow Gold Ladies Watch 26037BA.ZZ.D014CR.01.A

This is your first time at the TimeCrafters show. What was the rationale for coming here?
I think we have a different rationale than the other brands because 2014 is our first full twelve months of activity. Last year we had to hire a lot of people, growing from three or four people around 16 months ago to 27 people now. The reason we had to hire so many people is that in the beginning we thought we could outsource a lot but we have since discovered that we cannot outsource all the technology.
Last year we weren't really ready to do TimeCrafters because we didn't have any production. But now that we have the production and the quality we are in expansion mode and we have to open new doors. As we speak we have forty doors worldwide and we will most probably reach fifty by the end of they ear with another two or three in the US.

How easy is it to recruit these chemists and engineers?
It's difficult. We have people from the US and Canada, France and Switzerland. We even have chemists and engineers from the Vallee de Joux who have no background in watchmaking!
 

Are there other applications for the liquid technology you are developing?
The concept is hydro-mechanical, which for me means a separation between the mechanical movement itself, for which we work with the best watchmakers, and the liquid, which is the part that we bring into the game. In terms of our vision, we will develop both. For the watchmaking part we will gradually insource the assembly of the movement, the after-sales service and research and development. To do so we will soon be confirming that we have recruited a very well-known watchmaker.

For the liquid part we needed to give muscle to the engineers and chemists because it is a very sensitive technology and we own more than eleven patents in this field. This means that we cannot outsource it and we have to control it internally.

In addition to working on displaying the time, we are also working in other areas and are registering an average of one patent per month. So we have a lot of things cooking at the moment. Some of them may be seen in a watch, some may not, but we are working a lot to develop our intellectual property. We could move from using liquids to display the time to using them to improve the movement or even add new functions to the watch.

What are the possibilities for new liquid colours?
We have introduced red and blue as new colours. People probably think that this is easy but it's not. To change the colour we have to change one of the particles in the liquid and because of this we then need to change the chemical coating inside the glass tube. So by changing one element we need to change about fifteen other elements as a result, then do things like ageing tests. It takes between 12 and 18 months and costs around 100,000 dollars of development for each new colour. You cannot just say that you want purple now and get it straight away. We will start delivering the watches with the red liquid in July and the blue in September.

Given the possibilities of colour, are you working on a ladies' model?
Yes, but this will not be available for another two or three years. The watch at the moment is quite thick. With the research work we are doing we will be able to reduce the size of the bellows and therefore the diameter of the watch. This will give us a thinner and lighter watch, which will allow us to work on a ladies watch. But not before 2017.

What is your outlook for the year and beyond?
Our target is to deliver 600 watches this year. But unlike many other independent brands we see ourselves as a business and we want to grow. Some brands deliberately do not want to grow or do not know how to grow. But I think there is still space in the market and I see room for HYT somewhere between, say, MB&F and Richard Mille in terms of turnover.

We will launch the H3 at Baselworld next year, which is another partnership with Audemars Piguet. It will not be a round watch, it will be a linear watch and it will be a beast. Maybe a little less commercial but it will be a talking piece.