I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s no watch brand out there that I consider as groundbreaking and innovative as HYT. Here’s a literally in-depth look at one of their Baselworld 2014 releases, the HYT H2 Titanium and White Gold Blue.

The self-proclaimed “Hydro Mechanical Horologists” were kind enough to lend me a prototype of this watchmaking wonder, which I’m currently wearing pretty much everyday during my month-long stay in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Instead of a “week on the wrist” kind of review however, today I want to focus on the details of the watch.

While the H2 was first launched in 2013, this year HYT introduced several new fluid colors and case iterations to their two existing lines, which is actually a lot more challenging than I originally thought (more on this in a future post). One such piece was the H2 Titanium and White Gold Blue, which debuted the blue hour-indicating fluid.

One of the biggest differences between the H1 and H2 of course is the movement, which is so visually striking that HYT decided to completely forgo the dial. The movement was designed and manufactured in collaboration with Renaud et Papi, Audemars Piguet’s subsidiary company responsible for their high-end complicated pieces like the Royal Oak Concept series, as well as the majority of Richard Mille’s movements (the higher-end ones anyway).

The most obvious feature that immediately jumps out and grab you is the proprietary hydro-mechanical unit’s bellows that are given a slanted V-shape, adding tremendous volume to the already architectural movement.

The escapement is visible from the dial-side of the watch at 12 o’clock, suspended by an arched bridge. Even though the movement is clearly well-made with a high level of detail, HYT decided to skip traditional finishing with polished edges and go for an entirely sand-blasted matte finish, which admittedly has a much more fitting high-tech air to it.

The capillary fluid sits above the rest of the movement, visible from the side-on through the watch’s raised and slightly domed crystal. The choice of a white flange ring below it makes the vibrant blue fluid stand out a lot more than other color combinations we’ve seen from HYT.

Instead of an off-centered small dial as in the H1, the minute hand of the H2 is placed on a central axis, making a small jump at 30 minutes to avoid blocking the wearer’s view of the bellows. The minutes track is done in glass with white paint, seemingly floating adjacent to the fluid capillary. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the blued hand is angled with an upwards curve, with the tip reaching the same plane as the transparent track.

At 3 o’clock is a gearstick-inspired crown position hand, shifting between H-N-R (H for “heure”, N for “normale” and R for “remontage” I would assume) in the crown’s three different positions.

Opposite that at 9 o’clock is a temperature indicator that’s supposed to let the wearer know when the fluid has reached an optimal temperature. Regardless, the HYT hydro-mechanical portion of the movement has a thermo-regulation unit integrated within, so that slight variances in temperature can be compensated for without throwing off the position of the meniscus.

With so much going on form the front, you’d expect the back to be rather tame. Not so. The symmetrical layout continues here, with two skeletonized barrels showing the tension of the mainsprings within, serving as a more rudimentary power reserve indicator.

Look out for my user-oriented review of the HYT H2 Titanium and White Gold Blue next week, with thoughts on the watch’s wearability as well as pricing.

More information on www.hytwatches.com