Guns N’ Roses’ Frontman and the current lead singer of AC/DC, Axl Rose, added his creative touch to the HYT Skull Bad Boy model. HYT Skull Axl Rose Watch that he personally designed features a blue and black color palette. The Swiss watchmaker announced the Axl Rose collaboration earlier this year (in June) and this customized timepiece was officially unveiled last month during the second annual Dubai Watch Week.
One of the founders of rock band Guns N’ Roses opted for the HYT’s trademark skull model, but chose to make the skull feature even more over-the-top in blue Damascus steel. The famous American singer worked on a blue version with the hydro-mechanical horologists at HYT. The central part of the watch is the blue Damascus steel cranium surrounded by applied hour markers with a PVD coating in the same nuance of blue on a rhodium-plated dial with a hobnail motif. The fluid that shows the hours around the capillary of the skull is also blue, as well as is the stitching on the leather cuff strap.
Just like other HYT watches, this customized newcomer shows the time via a liquid-filled tube that indicates the hours. Instead of hands there is the fluid that runs around the skull’s outline and marks out the hours, whilst the left eye socket, which gradually darkens, is a continuously running seconds indicator. The minutes on the other hand can only be approximated based on the fluid running through the tube.
The new HYT Skull Watch designed by Guns N’ Roses’ lead singer is housed in a black DLC-coated titanium case with a micro-blasted finish measuring 51mm in diameter. From the rear, the case is fitted with a see-through metallized sapphire crystal enhanced with the recognizable Guns N’ Roses logo and Rose’s signature.
Speaking about this collaboration, the co-founder of HYT, Vincent Perriard, said that the Axl Rose already knew the brand very well when they met and that he was familiar with HYT’s destructive, rock and roll attitude. “He was keen to devise his own model, of which he already had a good idea in his head before we even met. We developed it for him. This Skull Axl Rose is his, exactly how he wanted it,” explains Mr. Perriard.
HYT Skull Axl Rose (ref. 151-DL-47-NF-BV) is produced in the strictly limited series of only 25 specimens and therefore it will be available to a very selected group of watch and music aficionados. The first piece has been delivered this month. The retail price from HYT retailers is $100,000.