A quick history of Hautlence first. Founded in 2004, its name is an anagram of Neuchatel. It’s a brand known for TV shaped cases with jumping hours and retrograde minutes. In 2013 it was acquired by MELB Holding (Meylan family), H. Moser’s parent company. Now the beautiful thing about Fifth Wrist is that I can flat out say what I want, so I’ll go out and say it. It almost feels like Hautlence is an unwanted child. They own it so they don’t have a choice but to love it but at the same time they just flat out ignore it. At least that’s what it looked like for years, until 2022 when they finally showed it some love and released a new model. Which I always thought was a shame because I truly believe it has so much potential and is different from so many brands that get more attention from the watch community.

The Hautlence HL08 uses the brand’s classic TV shape case with jump hours and retrograde minutes. I had a difficult time finding out the year it was released but most sites have it between 2008-2012. When released it was limited to 88 pieces and only in 18kt white gold.

Powering the Hautlence HL08 is a hand-wound manufactory made movement; or as the industry likes to call it “in house movement”. The TV case wears exceptionally well on my wrist, don’t be fooled by the specs of 43.5 x 37mm, it wears way better than that. As with any precious metal, there is a bit of heft to it, but it’s not bad. Since it comes with a strap the weight of the case feels almost the same as watches that come with bracelets. Now one of my gripes is the strap. Nothing wrong with the “standard” luxury alligator strap but the metal inserts used to make it look integrated to the case are obviously proprietary and only the black alligator is available from the manufacturer. If they would be willing to share the metal inserts specs on a model that is ten plus years old, then any competent strap maker could possibly make them so that it can become a strap monster and live up to its true potential.

It does take maybe a day to get used to telling the time on the Hautlence HL08 but it definitely never gets boring. Everytime I wear it it brings a smile to my face at each hour jump and when the minutes reset to zero. One limitation of the movement or maybe the complication is that when you set the time it only goes forward. The first time I set the time I went too far and had to go all the way around until I came back to the hour I wanted. I don’t know if this applies to the current model line movements but curious as to the why of this. Legibility on the minute track could have been better and if I could redesign it I would hands down make it larger. I also feel they missed on the lume aspect and it was only an afterthought and added just to have it. In 2023 they launched a wandering hours collaboration with Black Badger and my brain instantly thought, what would an HL08 Black Badger look like?

The secondary market is not a fan of Hautlence and that’s a win if you’re looking to add one to your collection. I certainly took advantage and don’t regret it one bit.

Pros
Complications

Not common

Comfortable

Cons
White Gold = Scratches

White Gold = Scratches

Service Cost

Quality
93

Style
95

Value
94

Wearability
92