Since 2015, HYT has been a partner with Sir Russell Coutts, the 5-time winner of the America’s Cup and founder of the RC44 Championship Tour. This year, the designers of a relatively young watchmaking company have created the new special edition timepiece dubbed HYT H4 RC44 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of RC44 Class races.
The story began in 2006 when the legendary sailor joined forces with a Slovenian designer, Andrej Justin, in order to create a new boat. The result was an ultra-modern, high performance, one-design racing yacht with amateur helmsmen in mind, for fleet racing sailing events, named the RC44. Soon after that, RC44 Class was born and recognized by the International Sailing Federation. Furthermore, just a year after it was introduced, the RC44 Class had teams which have taken participation in the RC44 Championship Tour from 2007 onwards.
In order to honor this winning spirit, the HYT launches a limited edition of its H4 model featuring a couple of distinctive details that draw inspiration from the RC44 Championship Tour.
The new H4 RC44 features ultra-light 3DTP carbon case and bezel, as well as the translucent dial made of sapphire crystal. There are also some maritime codes of the race, such as a blue liquid, the same color codes of the regatta. There is also a seconds’ wheel that emulates the golden bar that the monohull raises when it is winning (visible between 9 and 10 o’clock positions). The dial also comprises the power reserve display at the 2 o’clock position that is divided into four segments and displays 65 hours of autonomy.
HYT H4 RC44 Watch – Power Reserve Indicator
The beating heart of the H4 RC44 is HYT’s exclusive caliber skeleton mechanical hand-wound movement that oscillates at the rapid frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz). The 35 jewels mechanism features hand-beveled bridges which are adorned with Côtes de Genève and rhodium-plated bellows.
The translucent blue fluid travels through capillary around the exterior of the watch. It is the first time for the H4 collection to host deep blue liquid, thus evoking the blue of the sea. The manufacturer ensured that this special edition timepiece remains highly visible under the low lightening conditions due to a luminescent coating of SuperLumiNova under the capillary that indicates the hour’s path and shines in the dark.
HYT H4 RC44 Watch – Fluid Hour Display
The gray anthracite tones of the carbon case can also be found in the bezel showing the titanium DLC insignia at the 6 o’clock position, which is emblematic of HYT. The rubber sheathed crown is made of the same DLC titanium. Its screw down mechanism ensures that it remains water resistant up to 50 meters (approximately 165 feet).
HYT H4 RC44 Watch – Crown
The case of the HYT H4 RC44 timepiece measures 51mm in diameter and 17.9mm in thickness. It is shielded with a convex sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the dial side, while from the rear there is a screw-down sapphire case back.
The new H4 RC44 Watch (ref. 151-CB-03-BF-RN) comes with a black rubber base with the integrated NOMEX fabric center, a high performance synthetic fiber designed to be used in extreme conditions. This material is composed of Kelvar fibers and it can be found in certain sailing hulls. The watch is secured to the wrist with a black DLC titanium buckle.
Considering the fact that this special edition piece is created to honor the 10th anniversary of RC44 Class races, it will be issued in the very limited edition of only 10 specimens.
