Earlier this year, the Swiss luxury watch brand Hautlence (owned by the same folks who also own H. Moser & Cie.) created a one-of-a-kind timepiece for Watches & Wonders Geneva 2024. Inspired by the General Television & Radio Corp. “Model 5A5” radio broadcast receiver from the 1940s, the piece-unique was created as a talking point for the show, and it represented a design exercise to imagine the type of watch Hautlence might have built had the company been established in the 1940s instead of just twenty years ago. Although Hautlence didn’t originally plan to make this vintage-inspired model a commercially available offering, the watch received an overwhelmingly positive reaction, and for its latest release of 2024, the brand has created the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 as a ten-piece limited edition of this quirky and playful concept watch.

From an aesthetic standpoint, the new Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 watch (ref. ED20-SP00) is heavily based upon the appearance of the 1940s “Model 5A5” radio broadcast receiver, and Hautlence has more-or-less taken this funky retro design and turned it into a luxury wristwatch. Aside from a few small visual departures, such as the removal of the radio receiver’s two knobs and a secondary handle added to the 6 o’clock side of the case, the overall appearance of the Retrovision ‘47 is near-identical to the vintage General Television & Radio Corp. receiver that serves as its inspiration. When you see the two objects next to each other, it becomes immediately apparent that one of Hautlence’s goals was to preserve as much of the radio receiver’s aesthetic identity as possible, and the Retrovision ‘47 is very much the wristwatch version of the Model 5A5 broadcast receiver, rather than just being informed by its general design language and color palette. 

Offering an oblong rectangular profile with rounded edges, the case of the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 measures 44.4mm wide by 39.2mm in the lug-to-lug direction, and it has an overall thickness of 12.1mm. The case itself is crafted from grade 5 titanium, painted by hand to mirror the green and white marbled appearance of the bakelite plastic case of the Model 5A5 radio broadcast receiver. A rectangular sapphire crystal (with anti-reflective treatment) is fitted above the dial, while mirror-polished grade 23 titanium is used for the speaker grill, the frame around the dial, and the two curved handles that extend from the vertical sides of the case. To preserve the rectangular profile of the Retrovision ‘47, its winding crown is located within the handle on the 6 o’clock side of its case, and the screw-on titanium caseback features a sapphire display window to showcase the watch’s internal movement.

Unlike the hand-painted upper section of the case, the caseback of the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 showcases the natural brushed and polished surfaces of its grade 5 titanium structure, and since absolutely no mention is made about water resistance, it is safe to assume that the Retrovision ‘47 isn’t designed to contend with any type of aquatic environments. Additionally, while Hautlence is a luxury watch band and its movements offer a fairly satisfying level of finishing, the circular display window in the caseback of the Retrovision ‘47 features a decent amount of text that partially obscures the view of its movement. While my personal preference is to have all text confined to the rim of the caseback with a completely unadorned display window, it is far easier to overlook this irksome detail when the movement is some standard-fare offering from Seiko/Miyota, versus an in-house tourbillon movement like the one featured inside the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47.

Powering the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 is the brand’s Caliber D20 automatic movement, which runs at a frequency of 21,600vph (3 Hz) with a power reserve of approximately 72 hours. Consisting of 176 individual components, the Hautlence Cal. D20 features 29 jewels, and it is equipped with a double hairspring that resides inside a one-minute flying tourbillon. Most famously used by Moser, the two hairsprings move outward on opposing symmetrical paths during oscillation to help compensate for gravitation error, and given that the same holding firm that owns Hautlence also owns Moser, it is more than likely that the double hairspring inside the Retrovision ‘47 is borrowed from its famous sibling company (which should be viewed as a positive, in my opinion). Additionally, while the text on the caseback’s display window partially obscures the rear view of the movement, the flying tourbillon is also displayed through the speaker grill on the dial side of the watch.

Mirroring the appearance of the 1940s General Television & Radio Corp. Model 5A5 broadcast receiver, the front side of the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 features two main elements, with the time displayed by a small rectangular dial on the right-hand side of the watch, while the polished grade 23 titanium speaker grill sits next to it on the left. To emulate the brass-colored display plate on the vintage radio receiver, the dial of the Retrovision ‘47 is plated in gold and finished with vertical brushing, black Super-LumiNova numerals, and Hautlence’s Möbius pattern embossed in the center. Meanwhile, the pair of bright red hands mirror the appearance of the Model 5A5 broadcast receiver’s dial, and surrounding the tourbillon under the speaker grill are radio waves in gray Super-LumiNova against a black background that emit a green-colored glow to match the hour markers on the dial. 

While the luminous radio waves create a rather striking lume-shot, it is worth noting as a minor nitpick that the bright red handset on the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 isn’t luminous at all, which means that the real-world practicality of the watch’s luminous material will be relatively minimal. Applying Super-LumiNova to the underside surface of the hands (similar to what can be observed on the second generation of the Mondaine Stop2Go watch), would have been a nice detail that would have helped promote low-light legibility (at least to some degree). While outright practicality is hardly the point of a limited-edition concept watch like the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47, I doubt anyone would be too upset by having more luminous elements, and I personally feel that some green underglow on the hands would have been a welcome touch.

The polished titanium handles that extend from the vertical sides of the case on the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 actually serve as its lugs, and fitted to them is a two-piece leather strap made from red calfskin that is completed by a stainless steel buckle. The ends of the strap feature cutouts to accommodate the apex of the curved handles, and since this is hardly a conventional style of lug structure, I doubt there will be many third-party straps that will be compatible with the Retrovision ‘47’s case. The bright red hue of the strap matches the handset, and it is taken from the color of the dial on the vintage Model 5A5 radio broadcast receiver’s display. While the strap is arguably the most significant aesthetic departure, it is also the key detail that makes the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 a wristwatch, and the pairing of bright red and green creates a significantly more striking appearance than if the brand had opted for a more muted color, such as brown or black.

Since the original concept piece presented at Watches & Wonders was never intended to be offered to the public, the new Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 isn’t going to be a core-collection model, and it will instead be produced as a small-batch limited edition of just ten examples. Additionally, with an official retail price of $66,000 USD, the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47 ref. ED20-SP00 is a premium timepiece within a segment occupied by some of the most famous and prestigious names in the watch industry. That said, the Retrovision ‘47 is a truly unusual offering with a captivating retro-themed aesthetic, and it represents a significant visual departure from the definitively modern and technical designs that characterize the rest of Hautlence’s contemporary catalog. For more information on the Hautlence Retrovision ‘47, please visit the brand’s website.