The art of timekeeping has always been inseparable from the poetry of space and form. With the unveiling of the HAUTLENCE Vagabonde Tourbillon Series 4 and Series 5 at Geneva Watch Days, this union reaches an expressive crescendo, where mechanical virtuosity meets architectural imagination. These new timepieces are not simply instruments for measuring hours and minutes, rather, they become gateways into an ever-shifting choreography of shapes, shadows and kinetic art, echoing HAUTLENCE’s enduring quest to transcend horological orthodoxy and awaken a new sensibility in the contemplation of time.
Dynamic Geometry, Living Light
At first glance, one is instantly drawn to the dials: each is a living composition, created using cutting-edge 3D printing techniques and inspired by the interplay of light in contemporary architecture. The Vagabonde Tourbillon Series 4 presents a bold cubic motif, its blue PVD-coated brass dial evoking both order and depth. Lower layers are sandblasted for a softened, almost tactile finish, while the uppermost surfaces are polished to offer brilliant flashes in shifting light. By contrast, Series 5 is suffused with an organic rhythm, its base dial featuring a flowing network of hollows that are expertly filled with white Super-LumiNova®, a calligraphic counterpoint to the geometric authority of its sibling.
Both models are adorned with an intermediate dial in rhodium-plated, black PVD-coated brass, beneath an upper sapphire display ringed by applied minute numerals and luminescent Globolight® highlights. The wandering hours, a HAUTLENCE signature, traverse this meticulously layered landscape on satellite discs, charting a celestial course above the hypnotic slow-breath of the exposed tourbillon.
Engineering Meets Poetry
Powering this display is the D30 calibre, a mechanical marvel entirely conceived, engineered, and finished within the house and its sister company, Precision Engineering AG. The D30 is self-winding, featuring a highly efficient bidirectional pawl winding system that assures a robust minimum power reserve of seventy-two hours, all on a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour. The symmetry and transparency of the movement are on full display through a sapphire caseback, revealing an architectural assembly of 217 components, each meticulously polished and adjusted.
Perhaps the crowning glory is the one-minute flying tourbillon positioned at six o’clock. This is not just a visual flourish, but a technical symphony: fitted with a double hairspring in a bar-shaped carriage, designed for optimal stability and precision. The tourbillon’s openwork bridges and the kinetic purity of its rotation invite profound reflection, lingering like the final note of a nocturne. The finishing, visible from both front and back, shows satinated bridges, polished bevels, and finely engraved elements, all bearing the stamp of artistic and mechanical self-confidence that defines HAUTLENCE’s approach.
Modernity Framed in Midnight Blue
Both references share the unmistakable HAUTLENCE rectangular case, now finished in an arresting midnight blue PVD coating that plays with ambient light with the same grace as the dials themselves. The cases, crafted in steel and carefully satin- and mirror-polished to accentuate their angles and curvature, are assertively modern in their proportions: measuring 43 by 50.8 millimetres, with a svelte 12.2mm height including the sapphire crystal. This is not a case that apologises for its presence; rather, it asserts its volume and surface with an unapologetic sense of self.
Water resistance is rated to 10 ATM, a noteworthy technical feat for a watch of such complexity and architectural openness. Crystal on both the face and back is bevelled, extra-hard sapphire, anti-reflectively treated to ensure pristine visibility. The crown is notched and capped with white, echoing the integrated white rubber strap and lending a note of contemporary sportiness to an otherwise defiantly avant-garde creation. The buckle matches the case, clad in midnight blue PVD, and bears the engraved HAUTLENCE signature.
Epilogue: Time as Art, Art as Time
To encounter either the Vagabonde Tourbillon Series 4 or 5 is to participate in a dialogue: a meeting not only of mechanical mastery and visual art, but also of philosophy and perception. These watches are limited to just twenty-eight pieces each, objects of desire that escape the boundaries of the typical collector’s safe. They invite the wearer to let time drift, to wonder at every passing minute as it floats, wanders, and ultimately dissolves into memory.
HAUTLENCE, since its rebirth in 2022, has advanced itself as a champion of independent, expressive watchmaking. In collaboration with contemporary artist Via Lewandowsky, whose installations share the suite with these timepieces at Geneva Watch Days, the brand pointedly asserts: time is a construct, and its meaning lies ever in context and the eye of the beholder. Collectors and aficionados will find here not only a technical achievement of the highest order, but an enduring invitation to pause, reflect, and experience time anew. As the wandering hours make their arc across the dial, they whisper gently that time, in the hands of an artist, is limitless.
HAUTLENCE Vagabonde Tourbillon Series 4 Technical Specifications
Ref. AD30-ST02 – 28 pieces, CHF 59,000.00
Movement
- Calibre D30 self-winding mechanical movement
- Double hairspring flying tourbillon
- Wandering hours and minutes
- Power reserve: minimum of 72 hours
- Alternances: 21,600 vibrations/hour
- Number of components: 217
- Number of jewels: 39
Case
- Case middle and horns, bezel and crown: satin-finished and polished steel with midnight blue PVD coating
- Engraved HAUTLENCE logo on the crown
- Crystal: extra-hard bevelled sappphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment
- Back: sapphire crystal, engraved «HAUTLENCE», «10 ATM», «Suisse»
- Dimensions: 43.0 x 50.8 x 12.2 mm / 10.9 mm without sapphire crystal
- Water resistance: 10 ATM
Dial
- Base dial: blue PVD-coated brass with 3D printed cubic structure, lower levels sandblasted, top level polished
- Intermediate dial: rhodium-plated brass with black PVD coating
- Upper dial: sapphire with applied minute numerals and rings in Globolight®
Strap
- White rubber
- Buckle: steel with midnight blue PVD coating
HAUTLENCE Vagabonde Tourbillon Series 5 Technical Specifactions
Ref. AD30-ST03 – 28 pieces, CHF 59,000.00
Movement
- Calibre D30 self-winding mechanical movement
- Double hairspring flying tourbillon
- Wandering hours and minutes
- Power reserve: minimum of 72 hours
- Alternances: 21,600 vibrations/hour
- Number of components: 217
- Number of jewels: 39
Case
- Case middle and horns, bezel and crown: satin-finished and polished steel with midnight blue PVD coating
- Engraved HAUTLENCE logo on the crown
- Crystal: extra-hard bevelled sappphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment
- Back: sapphire crystal, engraved «HAUTLENCE», «10 ATM», «Suisse»
- Dimensions: 43.0 x 50.8 x 12.2 mm / 10.9 mm without sapphire crystal
- Water resistance: 10 ATM
Dial
- Base dial: brass with 3D printed organic structure in blue PVD coating, hollows filled with white Super-LumiNova®
- Intermediate dial: rhodium-plated brass with black PVD coating
- Upper dial: sapphire with applied minute numerals and rings in Globolight®
Strap
- White rubber
- Buckle: steel with midnight blue PVD coating
About Gallery René Schmitt
Gallery René Schmitt specializes in curating and presenting contemporary art editions, fostering dialogue between artistic vision and contextual presentation.
About Via Lewandowsky
Via Lewandowsky is a contemporary artist known for his conceptual works that challenge perception, blending visual form with philosophical inquiry.
About HAUTLENCE
Founded in 2004, HAUTLENCE – whose name itself is an anagram of Neuchâtel – pays tribute to the birthplace of the watchmaking art. The brand has been praised by watch collectors and aficionados from across the world for bringing a new dynamism to the art of fine watchmaking.
In 2022, HAUTLENCE embarked on a new chapter in its history. While continuing to refine and develop the brand’s signature codes, HAUTLENCE adopted a brand new, more contemporary and sporty approach. Featuring a new structure, a more exclusive distribution network and a visual identity aligned with the brand’s positioning, HAUTLENCE now has the resources to confirm its status as a leading independent.
With annual production of around 200 pieces, HAUTLENCE has nine calibres designed and developed in-house, whilst also relying on external partners for the movements used in certain collections.
In strategic terms, HAUTLENCE can count on support from MELB Holding, an independent family watchmaking group which has been offering its experience and network since 2012, with the synergies between HAUTLENCE and the group sure to grow.
HAUTLENCE is pushing the boundaries of traditional watchmaking codes, uniting them with innovative mechanical solutions and an unlimited universe borrowed from the various arts, combining design, architecture, and movement. The brand takes its inspiration from this to create new approaches to time display, which it uses to elevate the two key dimensions of space and time. Ever conscious of a functional relationship with beauty, HAUTLENCE invents timepieces with completely new contours and depths, respecting every stage and every person involved in their production.