Born of a desire to send a fresh breeze blowing through the watchmaking world, HAUTLENCE was created in 2001 by a group of passionate enthusiasts. Founded on a new approach to reading off time and setting a decidedly different and singular stage for complications, the brand clearly targeted devotees of fine mechanisms. It took up the challenge of developing its own movements and mastering its own complications. A limited edition policy further enhanced its elite positioning based on producing just 88 of each model and of limiting its collection to just 8 models. In 2005, the first HL watches arrived on the markets: the hour disc jumping by means of a slide-bar connecting rod that drives the retrograding minutes, as well as its two mechanically linked complications, are protected by an exclusive system duly patented by the brand. This first collection offered an entirely new vision of the intuitive reading of hours and minutes. In 2007, the collection introduced a more ergonomic, streamlined approach than its predecessor. In 2008, the range was enriched by a new integrated complication and the brand took on a whole new dimension by presenting its second in-house developed calibre with a third collection – once again based on jumping hours and retrograding minutes, and enriched with a date display – hence its name HLQ, with the Q standing for the French word for calendar, Quantième. The shape chosen for this model was a round, slightly conical case providing an optimal view of the interior. Thanks to the “Classic” dial directly derived from the HLC collection, HAUTLENCE added a touch of understated elegance to the HLQ model, but it is the HL2 model that now signals the brand’s entry into the world of brands having chosen to make their name in the watchmaking history books.

It took over three years for HAUTLENCE to develop in-house, and cloaked in secrecy, an authentic watchmaking innovation that is futuristic in terms of its mode of construction and retransmission. This mechanical masterpiece pursues several objectives, including displaying the hour through an aperture on a 12-link chain, moving in a controlled and regulated manner in 4 seconds every minutes; and achieving optimal timing results without any disturbance linked to the energy required for the complication and to drive the displays, within a system compensating for the effects of gravity. Spectacularly structured around a retrograding minutes display, the jumping hour is composed of a 12-link chain that is activated by a crank arm identical to that found in the HL collections. This clever mechanism, which is unique in the world of wristwatches, serves to move the ensemble in a carefully controlled manner by means of a speed regulator that preserves the parts from inadvertent shocks due to operation and, to ensure sufficient energy, does so by means of a single barrel dedicated exclusively to moving the mechanism. And because it was important to create a visually appealing kinetic sight, HAUTLENCE has ensured that the chain movement serving to change the hour displayed through the aperture is accompanied by a 60° rotation of the regulating organ. This rhythmical gyration occurring every 60 minutes ensures that the effects of gravity on the regulating organ are statistically compensated for if the watch were to remain immobile. This new milestone in the field of time read-off places HAUTLENCE firmly among the ranks of brands capable of giving fresh impetus to the watch industry and of providing a new vision of time in three dimensions