PRIMARY TOUR, an experience in primary colours

PRIMARY TOUR, an experience in primary colours

Time is movement; time is changing. HAUTLENCE and Eric Cantona, its illustrious ambassador, understand this well: the VORTEX PRIMARY, a watchmaking masterpiece that marries beauty and technical excellence, exquisitely symbolises the movement and transformation of time.

Unveiled in January 2016, the VORTEX PRIMARY was launched in Asia in the last week of September with the support of HAUTLENCE's local partners, as part of the PRIMARY TOUR.

With its three-dimensional case composed of faceted structures featuring 19 primary-colour crystals, the VORTEX PRIMARY beautifully showcases the mechanism of the HL2.0 in-house calibre, in perpetual motion, and the theme of passing time, embodied by its half-trailing hours chain. Each time the hour changes, the watch undergoes a metamorphosis. And in the changing light, the superimposed crystals transform the VORTEX PRIMARY's appearance. This theme is dear to Eric Cantona, who explains: "To survive, you have to adapt. To exceed the limits imposed on us by society or ourselves, we need to know how to surpass ourselves, to push further, to think and be different, to metamorphose. Time is the only inescapable constraint, and that's why our starting point was the idea of a cage for the case - to remind us that we are all physically imprisoned by time, but that our spirit remains free."

Inspired by a stained glass window, the case's construction reveals the heart of the timepiece in its mysterious beauty. The primary colours chosen for the case are also highly symbolic, representing complete freedom through their ability to create any shade when mixed. "Time and death are intimately linked. The VORTEX PRIMARY reflects life and death, imprisonment and freedom, metamorphosis and colour," concludes Eric Cantona.

To celebrate the launch of this unique piece, HAUTLENCE invited a small number of special guests and members of the press to a primary colour-themed event. The occasion was marked by the unveiling of an Eric Cantona artwork, which reinterprets the VORTEX PRIMARY design in the form of a vertical sculpture composed of plexiglas panels in the primary colours. The artwork was created in three versions - each a unique piece in its own right - and exhibited in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta. The three works were given to the first lucky owners of a VORTEX PRIMARY.