The man behind some of the most impressive launches by Panerai, Tudor and Montblanc over the last decade, Davide Cerrato is now leading HYT’s exceptionally innovative and hi-tech watchmaking in a new direction
As children, most of us have been fascinated with space explorations and imaginary super powers like teleporting or the ability to fly. Davide Cerrato, HYT’s new CEO, has been dreaming of doing all this and more with the future-forward brand that’s now witnessing a resurrection of sorts. An industry veteran, Cerrato is determined to push the boundaries in watchmaking with the incredibly complex and sophisticated meca-fluidic technology. In fact, over the past year, he has already wowed HYT enthusiasts with eight new watches, two new movements created in collaboration with watchmaker Eric Coudray and a refreshed design language for the brand.
In a recent interview with Wristcheck, Cerrato talked about his creative process, the rise of the Indies in recent years and his vision for HYT.
Excerpts from the interview:
How did you get interested in watches?
I can't really tell which of the two events happened first – I think it was the day my father taught me how to read analogical clocks. It was a kind of epiphany; a feeling you get when you finally master a new language and are able to communicate with someone else. The second was when I got my first watch. I was around four or five-years-old. It was a Casio. I was born in 1970, so it was a Casio that resembled a Star Wars watch. It was navy blue and made of plastic. The display was red because it was from the very early days of LED displays. It really looked like a Star Wars-like watch.
What got you into the watchmaking industry?
I have a brain with an even strength of right and left hemisphere – which means I’m both creative and analytical. While I was successful in both the fields, I didn’t know which path to follow.
After finishing my studies in industrial design and architecture, I felt like I was missing something. I fell in love with the world of economics and went to a business school. I started my career in marketing and joined Ferrero. Then I went into consumer electronics, which is already a combination of technology, conventional design and branding. It was quite crazy. We debuted our first interactive television then but it was too advanced for the times. After that, I returned to Italy and joined the Fiat Group, one of Italy's largest advertising firms, where you have this magical blend of technology, marketing and the chassis of a car, which is quite similar to watches. And then I had the opportunity to join Panerai around 22 years ago, when the company was rocketing.
HYT filed for bankruptcy in March 2021 but was resurrected soon after. What has changed since you joined the company?
Everything has changed. And it is important to convey the narrative clearly because people need to understand what happened so that they can fully understand what we are doing now. The former organization went bankrupt in March 2021—COVID was one of several reasons but it was not the only one. It was strategic decisions and shareholder structure, among other things. In June 2021, a new company was established with new investors. The Swiss company is called Kairos Technology Switzerland. They contacted me and I joined as the CEO on July 1st, also investing personally in the company. We are all fully convinced that the brand has huge potential if things are put together properly with the purpose of investing, reshaping the whole story, reworking the quality, and the design to make it viable in the long term.
How has the quality of watches improved?
We decided to revive the brand with new watchmaking elements, high-end movements, a collaboration with Eric Coudray and a greater emphasis on meca-fluidic tech. We found a new positioning for the brand, a connection to space and space exploration, which is a perfect metaphor to talk about high technology. We intended to give the brand a completely new spin with three essential elements – better quality, legibility and design.
To improve the quality, we based our fluidic technology on the most recent version of the "fluidic module." On the movement front, a movement was created with Eric Coudray in the final month of the previous organization. We used it as a starting point. The mechanism introduced a very interesting innovation, which is the big wheel seen on the rear of all current watches. This is the technological answer that allows us to fully synchronize fluidic and mechanical time today. As a result, the watch's accuracy is now very precise. We have improved the legibility dramatically with the tube. It is easier to read the time even while displaying two cycles of 12 hours. There is a retrograde effect of the fluid and of the movement itself.
The watch has been slimmed down, and we chose to give it a futuristic design. The watches are made of titanium and carbon fiber and are insanely lightweight – weighing just 80 grams.
What’s your creative process like?
I'm a pretty curious person, so it's really an organic process. I read a lot and spend a lot of time on social media and the Internet. I talk to a lot of people and have the good fortune of being able to travel a lot. These things help me with ideation and then there is an organic process where I imbibe those elements to start aggregating a concept.
What inspires you?
Curiosity. The foundation of everything is being open to look into a little bit of everything – it could be color, images, textures, stories, territories – it can really be everything and anything.
I like cars. Born in Turin, I was raised in the midst of all the big automakers and car designers, like Pininfarina and Beltone. This was very inspiring. There are many parallels between car design and watchmaking, and how these two collide.
I like incredible space sagas. We grew up dreaming of robots, with mangas, with science fiction, and with the hope of flying and visiting space and planets, and then everything went silent at the end of the last century. Now, everything seems to be coming back. It's insane! We dreamt of it 30-40 years ago and today we see it happening. We have a special emotional connection to it.
What are the challenges of working with meca-fluidic watches?
It's a totally new world. It's crazy. It’s what I call “alien technology,” which is incredibly complex and sophisticated – working with rules, processes, and constraints that are completely different from traditional watchmaking and then blending it with traditional watchmaking.
When we first started working on the new design, we ran a number of tests to ensure that it was truly a technology that could be worn every day. I must say, I'm positively pleased, because when we sent the initial prototype of the Hasteroid to the laboratory for shock tests last year, the results were crazy. There were up to 18,300 shocks, each one getting stronger and stronger. In the last one, the watch case was kept intact, in such a manner that the capillaries interwoven into the rest of the dial kept it properly protected. So nothing happened to the capillary and the time remained completely precise. The only thing that happened was that two indexes that were glued to the product collapsed because it was a prototype; in the actual one, they are riveted and do not move.
So, we're talking about a super complicated, really high-end watch that you can wear every day without any issues. Again, this is a mix of smart design, an extremely high-end mechanical approach and meca-fluidic technology.
Do you see a growing interest for “meca-fluidic” watches by those who are into traditional watchmaking?
Yes, and what's interesting now is that all of the changes we've made are now visible in our watchmaking. The watches are super light, easy to wear, and even though the diameter is still 48mm, it feels like 44-45mm on the wrist. We're also working on a lot of luminescence with Super-LumiNova® for our watches.
What’s your take on pre-owned watches?
It's part of the larger watch business and is quite fascinating. It welcomes new customers to the market at a more affordable price point, which is very important for the wider watchmaking ecosystem. We have some of our old watches in the pre-owned market that we are servicing. We offer five years of warranty for all our watches, both old and new, and we are doing everything we can to serve all of the previous ones.
What do you hope to see in the independent watchmaking scene in the near future?
It's magical to be part of the world of the independents right now. A few years ago, I was looking at it from afar but now I’m going really deep into this new segment. It is amazing because there's so much creativity, passion and talent. It's also a magical time for all independent brands because more and more collectors are now getting interested in their watchmaking. I'd like to see the indies go a little farther and continue doing what they’ve always done. To be on the radar has been a major battle for many of them since the beginning. It's a special time now that we're all on the radar. I'd like to see it growing and capturing a significant portion of the market. It would be really positive for the overall market, as all these brands are challenging the status quo and pushing the boundaries. They are also bringing creativity in the way watches are distributed.
Is HYT tapping into areas like the Space, metaverse or gaming?
They are all of personal interest to me and we are working on two or three projects I can’t yet reveal but they will establish us as the brand of the future – helping us grow and build watchmaking for the years to come.
Where do you see HYT 10 years from now?
I have a clear vision for the brand and it’s in tune with our motto: Heroes of Your Time. We are already working on our meca-fluidic technology, using the capillary to display time and are using it in other ways to fully explore the brand's outstanding qualities. We are always scouting for new materials and colors in order to always be a little bit ahead of the game.
What’s been the most challenging project so far?
I'll answer by quoting Enzo Ferrari, who was Italian like myself, and he used to say, "The greatest Ferrari ever is the one we have yet to build. The next one," and that's exactly what it is. Each project is insane and then you are even more excited and passionate for the next.
