Hublot and Berluti unveil a new watch

(Image credit: Hublot and Berluti)

A focus on skilled craftsmanship and exquisite materials united French men’s fashion house Berluti and watch brand Hublot when they first collaborated on a watch four years ago.

Now, the brands have come together again, this time to create the elegant Hublot Big Bang Unico Berluti Cold Brown which features a dial crafted from Venezia leather. For creative director of Berluti, Kris Van Assche, it was a chance to add a modern edge to the brand’s heritage leather. ‘There is a very contemporary feel to these sports watches, a little sports, of course, a little chunky, and I immediately felt this universe would make for a more surprising contrast with our Venezia leather and patina,’ he says. ‘I always push for the Berluti heritage to be discovered in unexpected new contexts.’

In this new piece, the Venezia leather in Cold Brown patina – originally inspired by an archive patina and renewed to achieve its warm hue – is inserted between two pieces of sapphire glass, with a cut-out silhouette revealing the movement beneath. In a first for both brands, the leather also forms part of the bezel, meaning like the strap it will develop a new patina over time as it ages.

‘It is an amazing technical feat made possible by the expertise of our watchmakers, designers and engineers, all of whose know-how was required to master the conception of this new bezel,’ adds Ricardo Guadalupe, CEO of Hublot.

INFORMATION

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Hannah Silver is the Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*. Since joining in 2019, she has overseen offbeat art trends and conducted in-depth profiles, as well as writing and commissioning extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury. She enjoys travelling, visiting artists' studios and viewing exhibitions around the world, and has interviewed artists and designers including Maggi Hambling, William Kentridge, Jonathan Anderson, Chantal Joffe, Lubaina Himid, Tilda Swinton and Mickalene Thomas.