A Hublot Wristwatch Shaped by Water

The elements have left an indelible mark on celebrated artist Daniel Arsham’s life. As a child, he dreamed of becoming an architect, until Hurricane Andrew destroyed his family home in Miami, an experience that left a lasting imprint on 12-year-old Arsham’s imagination. That moment of devastation later evolved into a lifelong artistic fascination with erosion, decay, and the passage of time.

Now 45, Arsham is known for sculptures that appear unearthed from the future, and his collaborators range from Dior and USM to Pharrell Williams and LeBron James.

Last year, the Hublot ambassador unveiled his first creation for the brand: the MP-16 Arsham Droplet, a CHF 80,000 pocket watch shaped like a suspended water droplet.

This year, Hublot and Arsham reunite with a new experiment in transparency and motion: the MP-17 MECA-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire, his first wristwatch for the brand.

Like the Droplet, the 42mm Arsham Splash draws inspiration from “clarity and motion of water.” Its case merges microblasted titanium, anti-reflective sapphire, and a frosted bezel, framing a splash-shaped aperture that reveals a skeletonized dial accented with luminescent Arsham Green.

This openworking allows one a glimpse of the HUB1205 MECA-10 movement, which features a small seconds at 9 o’clock and a power reserve indicator at 3, which indicates how much of this watch’s whopping 10 days of power reserve remains.

Despite its unconventional form, the watch remains rooted in Hublot’s DNA, with the brand’s six H-screws on the bezel and caseback, and a titanium H-shaped clasp securing the Arsham-monogrammed rubber strap.

As with the Droplet, Arsham’s mint-toned palette reflects not only his artistic language but also his perspective: the artist is color blind, and relies on special EnChroma glasses to perceive hues more vividly.

Priced at USD 69,000, the Hublot MP-17 MECA-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire is limited to 99 examples.

Andre Frois

Haute Time

Andre Frois, previously the Editor-in-Chief of Revolution Asia, brings a wealth of experience to Haute Time. A Singaporean of Portuguese-Chinese descent, Frois has been creating compelling watch content since 2010 for prestigious publications such as Tatler, World of Watches, and The Peak. Renowned for his ability to distill the technical, historical, and financial aspects of watches into accessible narratives, he has also made a mark with investigative stories for VICE and the South China Morning Post. A graduate of NTU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with a specialization in biomedical engineering, Frois furthered his expertise with a specialist diploma in Sport Science.