Hublot x Maxime Büchi Pop-Up Tattoo at Art Basel

JToddH reports on Hublot's innovative collaboration with tattoo artist Maxime Büchi, highlighting a unique pop-up tattoo event during Miami Art Basel. This post captures how Hublot merges luxury watchmaking with contemporary art and lifestyle, creating exclusive experiences for brand enthusiasts and media.

Thursday, December 1, 2016 [Miami, FL] – Today, Ricardo Guadalupe, CEO of Hublot, and Maxime Büchi, famed graphic designer, tattoo artist, founder of the Sang Bleu studio in London and Hublot Ambassador, launched an exclusive Sang Bleu Pop-up Tattoo Shop at the Hublot Galerie, Design District Boutique, where Maxime himself tattooed select media and friends of the brand on site! This marks one of many celebrations for Hublot during Miami Art Basel.

The Sang Bleu pop-up was open from 3 – 6 p.m., and will be open during the same timeframe on Friday, December 2, and on Saturday, December 3. Appointments are secured by invitation only, though the pop-up is open to the public for fans of both Hublot and Sang Bleu who wish to meet Maxime and watch his team at work. Attendees were offered champagne and light bites while perusing the boutique’s limited edition offerings – many of which are available nowhere else in the United States!

Hublot and Maxime Büchi first announced the Big Bang Sang Bleu timepiece earlier this year in celebration of the creative partnership – but now the limited edition watch is being delivered.

The brand-new, totally redesigned 45mm Big Bang in titanium, which sees its lines beveled, features a signature Sang Bleu geometric graphic – evoking the harmonious and proportional relationships derived from Leonard de Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. The titanium bezel of the Big Bang sees its roundness shaped into a hexagon. These facets confer a three-dimensional effect upon it. The matte black dial presents a wide black satin-finish circular flange stamped with the hours. The numerals created for this piece by Maxime's typeface-design agency SwissTypefaces SARL. As for the seconds counter, it appears discreetly on the metal sculpture that dresses the dial.

Curves that contrast with the piece as a whole. As if to reinforce its mysterious spirit and give time another dimension, no hand appears on the dial. The time is displayed through the superposition of three rhodium-plated octagonal-shaped discs. The largest disc indicates the hours, while the small one marks the minutes. To make it easier to tell the time, one of the tips of the hours and minutes octagons is in white Superluminova. As for the seconds, these tick by in the center on a black disc stamped with the H of Hublot and the stylized hourglass of Sang Bleu.  The unique strap is hot stamped in a gradient from black to gray on calfskin stitched to rubber and connected by Hublot’s patented one-click interchangeable strap system.

The watch was released in a limited run of 200 units, and is available for purchase at the Hublot Galerie, Design District Boutique in Miami, the Bal Harbour boutique in Bal Harbour, and Hublot boutiques globally.

Ricardo Guadalupe, CEO of Hublot, commented, “ Maxime is a creative force and a true artist. This collaboration represents a perfect marriage of the technical design and watchmaking expertise of Hublot with the artistic vision of one of the field’s greatest talents. The result is a timepiece for collectors of exceptional watches and art alike.”