Hublot and acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami have teamed up again to do what they do best – the fusion of art and watches. To mark the occasion, Hublot has created 13 unique watches that correspond to the 13 unique NFTs the Japanese artist is famed for and unveiled them all last week in New York.
The Glass House in New York set the scene for this collaboration, where on February 2nd, Hublot and Takashi Murakami announced their fourth joint artistic project: the launch of thirteen new NFTs and thirteen unique timepieces. This project is actually a continuation of the past projects the two have collaborated on, and this time rewards the buyers of previous watches and NFTs.
“When my collaboration with Hublot was announced, we made it known that we would be adopting new forms of artistic expression. After creating all the timepieces together, as well as the digital works of art, we are now imagining new ways of accessing contemporary art.”
Takashi Murakami
In true Hublot fashion, this is no ordinary collaboration and no ordinary watch purchase. Let me break it down for all who are reading as it gets a little complicated; hold on for the ride!
The Purchase Process
Twelve of the thirteen new Classic Fusion watches, with the iconic Takashi Murakami Smiling Flower (yes, it’s a smiley face and petals), will be sold exclusively online at Hublot.com, but only to owners who bought or traded one of the 324 NFTs that was issued last April in their last collaboration. These were all offered to people who purchased one of the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black & Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Sapphire Rainbow watches. Each of the new watches will be linked to an exclusive and unique NFT mirroring the watch’s colour and design. These will all be available at Watches and Wonders in Geneva this year when the sale of these starts.
Between now and the start of sales in early April 2023, any collector interested in one of the new watches will need to collect one of the NFTs available on the NFT trading platform – OpenSea. That is if they don’t already own one!
“Our partnership with Takashi Murakami is allowing us to construct a history that interlinks all the works we have released with Takashi, both digital pieces and the watches themselves. Faithful to its history, Hublot is once again first, unique and different in how it rewards its collectors, providing them with privileged access to both ownership of and trade in unique artistic pieces. Hublot Loves Art!”
Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot CEO
To further the integrated nature of the collaboration, the twelve other watches and NFTs symbolise each of the 12 petals on the rainbow edition – and twelve references for the twelve hours on the dial. This symbolism is something that I feel ties all these together nicely, and should one person be able to acquire all of them (which would be extremely unlikely) would make a beautiful collection.
The 13th Watch
The 13th watch of the collection, unveiled in New York, is the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow, and it is also a masterpiece. Taking inspiration from the two previously launched pieces, this watch reinterprets the iconic emblem of Takashi Murakami: the smiling flower. Here, the 12 petals of the flower form a perfect gradient of rubies, sapphires, amethysts, tsavorites and topaz. Thanks to an ingenious ball-bearing system developed by Hublot’s engineers, the petals create a dizzying spectacle of colour as they spin on an axis with each movement. The kinetic effect of the petals creates a striking effect against the 45mm black ceramic case. The centre of the smiling flower is placed on top of the sapphire glass to create a three-dimensional effect. Whilst this all sounds simple in explanation, it is not, and when you see this in motion, it’s something else!
The heart of the watch beats with the manufactured Unico calibre set in the emblematic Classic Fusion design, a unique movement that offers a 72-hour power reserve. As the third watch collaboration between Hublot and the Japanese artist, this launch is proof of the incredible collectability of this partnership.
This unique piece will be available over the course of a year – from the launch at Watches and Wonders through to April 2024, at which time collectors will be able to trade on the twelve NFTs with the end goal of acquiring all twelve NFTs. Should any one person be able to collect all twelve, then they will be eligible to purchase the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow. In the event that no single person has managed to gather all twelve NFTs, the watch will be auctioned by Hublot to raise funds for charity. The big question is, will anyone get all 12 NFTs? We’ll just have to wait until April of next year…
Reference: 507.CX.9099.RX.TAK23 – UNIQUE PIECE
Specification
- Case: 45mm x 13.45 mm thick. Satin-finished and polished black ceramic
- Dial: Microblasted rhodium-plated, rotating décor with 12 petals set with 384 coloured gemstones
- Crystal: Polished black ceramic with sapphire crystal display back
- Water resistance: 50 metres
- Movement: Unico Manufacture, self-winding
- Frequency: 4Hz (28’800 VPH)
- Number of components: 256
- Jewels: 30
- Power reserve: 72 Hours
- Bracelet: Black lined rubber with black-plated stainless steel deployant buckle clasp
