Today, we are bringing you our hands-on review of the new HYT Skull Bad Boy presented at Baselworld 2016. The first iteration of the HYT Skull was released in January 2015 in two model variations —Green Eye and Red Eye— and we brought you our hands-on review here. Then last year, the Skull Maori was presented and we reviewed it here. Well, if you thought that the HYT Skull Green Eye, Red Eye or the Maori were impressive enough, the new HYT Skull Bad Boy is by far our favorite Skull model from this manufacture thanks to its Damascus steel skull and the black fluid marking the hours.
News: Presenting the New HYT Skull. The Hydro Mechanical Horologists Do it Again.
The Skull, HYT’s new extraordinary and unprecedented creation, breaks all the rules. You don’t need to be an expert to appreciate the power of its design. Even at first glance the Skull makes a striking impression, simply because it epitomizes and at the same time breaks away from everything that HYT represents. It is provocative, unique and has a bold design supported by the fluid mechanics that have become the brand’s signature style. The Skull speaks for itself. Its development, however, was anything but obvious. The use of a capillary, which carries a fluid to act as the hour marker, is a concept that is already mastered by HYT and its partners. However, any significant changes in form require extensive background work. For the Skull, the skull shape of the tube, which measures less than one millimeter in diameter, was a significant challenge in itself. The issue centered on the capillary’s four angles, two of which are almost 90° at the base. These curves meant that bending the glass was a particularly delicate task.