Hublot Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow
Hublot Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow
Hublot and Takashi Murakami launch a collection of 13 unique watches and 13 unique NFTs
“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, CEO of Hublot
“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
At an exclusive event which took place at the Glass House in New York on February 2
nd, Hublot and Takashi Murakami announced their fourth joint artistic project: the launch of thirteen new NFTs and thirteen unique timepieces. This announcement represents a continuation of past projects, by rewarding the first buyers of the watches and collectors of the first NFTs through an exclusive approach.
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The thirteen unique NFTs are inspired by Japanese video games & TV from the 1970s as well as the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black, the first collaboration between the Swiss watchmaker and Takashi Murakami launched in January 2021. These NFTs are linked to a limited edition of 13 new and unique Classic Fusion watches that will be at Watches & Wonders 2023 in Geneva. Twelve of these watches will be available for purchase exclusively online on hublot.com, which can only be accessed by owners of at least one of the 324 NFTs issued in April 2022 as part of the third collaboration between Hublot and Takashi Murakami. These 324 NFTs were originally offered to owners of one of the two Hublot x Takashi Murakami watch models (Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black & Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Sapphire Rainbow), before they were allowed to be exchanged on the decentralized NFT trading platform, OpenSea. The period between the announcement of the project in New York in February 2023 and the start of sales in early April 2023 in Geneva will allow any collector interested in one of the new watches to collect one of the NFTs available on OpenSea. Each buyer lucky enough to purchase one of the 12 new unique watches will receive a corresponding exclusive NFT.
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Hublot and Takashi Murakami take the watch as a work of art to a new level, by bridging the art of fine watchmaking with digital art. The 13
th watch of the collection, unveiled in New York, is the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow and it is also the 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 center of the smiling flower is placed on top of the sapphire glass to create a three-dimensional effect.
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The twelve other references, which will be available for purchase by holders of the NFTs on the dedicated ecommerce platform, recall the master flower and represent one of the petals. Twelve references for twelve hours on the dial, and twelve NFTs.
The heart of the watch beats with the manufacture 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.
As the second step, collectors will then have a period of one year during which they will have the opportunity to trade the twelve NFTs on the OpenSea platform. In April 2024, at the end of this period, only the collector who has managed to collect all 12 of the new unique NFTs will be eligible to purchase the thirteenth and most sought-after watch: 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.
Hublot is a Swiss watch manufacturer founded in 1980 and based in Nyon. For its first ever timepiece, this fundamentally disruptive company combined gold with a rubber strap in a case with a design inspired by a ship’s porthole (
hublot in French). Thus, the
Art of Fusion was born, blending tradition, innovation, craftsmanship, worlds and talents. It became the brand’s aesthetic and technical signature.
This identity was strengthened in 2005 with the Big Bang, which attested to an unrivalled know-how in terms of complications, manufacture movements and state-of-the-art materials. Carbon, titanium, ceramic and sapphire have been developed on this model to technical extremes.
This ground-breaking, high-quality approach to watchmaking is summed up in its philosophy
“Be First, Unique and Different.” It gradually led to other collections with innovative designs: Classic Fusion, Spirit of Big Bang, Square Bang and Manufacture Pieces. These draw on high levels of craftsmanship, both in terms of the materials so dear to Hublot (such as Magic Gold, brightly-coloured ceramics and sapphires) and its manufacture movements (Unico chronograph, Meca-10 and large complications such as the Tourbillon, the Cathedral Minute Repeater and the specific Manufacture Pieces movements).
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Hublot’s world extends to powerful partnerships including football.
“Hublot Loves Football” as become the slogan at the world’s biggest sporting events (such as the FIFA World Cup™, Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA EURO™) and through its ambassadors. This love of football continues in art, design, music, sport, fine dining and sailing. Lastly, Hublot’s implication in joint environmental projects with SORAI and Polar Pod reflects its concern for the issues of the day. Almost 130 boutiques around the world share Hublot’s fervour and values, alongside the
Hublot.com e-commerce site.
Classic Fusion 
