There is big and small fry in watch ambassadors. There are those who have global reach but are expensive, those in the shadows and those who quite simply refuse any commercial association whatsoever. Axl Rose, one of the most talented but also the most controversial artists of the past 25 years on planet rock, is one of the latter. His fans only ever had the smallest of consolation in the form of the legendary Guns'N'Roses T-shirts from the band that outlived punk and grunge and took rock to its very limits. Today, HYT now offers those fans an altogether different product.

Don’t Cry, Patience !

At 10.30 today, HYT announced a limited series that the singer has agreed to sign - both figuratively and literally, on its case back. Unsurprisingly, Axl Rose did not chose a H2 Tradition. The logical choice was the Skull, a model that he had already been wearing by personal choice.

"We met backstage in Bern at the last AC/DC concert when he was the lead singer," explains Vincent Perriard, co-founder of HYT. "He already knew the brand very well and was familiar with our 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. We are particularly proud of it, especially given its timing when Guns'N'Roses are about to start touring again with their original line-up."

HYT Skull Axl Rose, You Could Be Mine!

The singer worked on a blue model with the hydro-mechanical horologists at HYT. At the centre is a skull which for the first time is made of blue Damascus steel, surrounded by applied hour markers with a PVD coating in the same tone of blue on a rhodium-plated dial with a hobnail pattern. The fluid that indicates the hours around the capillary of the skull is naturally blue as well, as is the stitching on the distinctive leather cuff strap.

The titanium DLC case measures 51mm in diameter and has a sapphire case back that shows off the movement, dominated by the bellows at 6 o'clock. The screw-in back has a metallised finish and a transfer of the Guns’N’Roses logo, underneath which Axl Rose has added his signature. The Skull Axl Rose is available to a very select group of collectors, since only 25 will be produced. The first will be delivered from next month.