In a move that captures just how dynamic collecting watches and art can be, the Swiss watchmaker Hublot and the artist Takashi Murakami have reunited to launch their fourth artistic project together. Hublot and Murakami have sought to bridge the gap between watchmaking and digital art by releasing 13 new NFTs alongside 13 watches. Each of the unique NFTS is inspired by the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black watch – the inaugural collaboration with the artist, which Hublot unveiled in January 2021 – and linked to a new limited edition of 13 unique Classic Fusion watches, which will be unveiled during Watches & Wonders in Geneva at the end of March 2023.
‘When my collaboration with Hublot was announced, we made it known that we would be adopting new forms of artistic expression,’ Murakami says. ‘After creating all the timepieces together, as well as the digital works of art, we are now imagining new ways of accessing contemporary art.’
Procuring the latest Hublot and Takashi Murakami watches
Procuring any one of the watches is set to be a challenge. Twelve of them will be available for purchase on an e-commerce platform exclusively accessible to owners of a previous series of NFTs, which Hublot and Murakami released as part of their third collaboration in 2022.
Those 324 NFTs were originally offered to owners of a Hublot x Takeshi Murakami model: either the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black or the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Sapphire Rainbow.
From now until the new watches are available for sale in early April 2023, collectors interested in the upcoming series will be able to collect one of the 324 NFTs on the decentralised NFT trading platform, OpenSea, in order to stand a chance of buying one of the 12 watches. Those lucky enough to get their hands on one will also be awarded one of the exclusive new NFTs.
Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow
All this virtual excitement is anchored back in the real world with the 13th watch in the collection. The masterpiece, which is known as the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow, takes Murakami’s iconic smiling flower motif and realises each of its 12 petals in a sparkling rainbow gradient consisting of rubies, sapphires, amethysts, tsavorites and topaz. The stunning watch face is further enhanced by a ball-bearing system, perfected by Hublot’s engineers, that enables the flower petals to turn on their axis with each movement. Inside the 45mm ceramic case, the watch beats with the manufacture Unico set in the Classic Fusion design and boasts a 72-hour power reserve.
This watch can only be obtained if a collector manages to collect all 12 NFTs by April 2024. In the event that no one person has managed the task, the watch will be auctioned by Hublot for charity.
‘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,’ says Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe. ‘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.’
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