Hublot Celebrates Big Bang Sang Bleu with Pop-Up Tattoo Parlor

Hublot Celebrates Big Bang Sang Bleu with Pop-Up Tattoo Parlor

Adrienne Faurote
By Adrienne Faurote December 2, 2016
Hublot Big Bang Sang Bleu pairs watchmaking excellence and artistic ingenuity.
Hublot Big Bang Sang Bleu pairs watchmaking excellence and artistic ingenuity.

Haute watches and elaborate tattoos make a perfect match. At least, so they do at Hublot Galerie in Miami’s Design District.

To mark the debut of the limited-edition Big Bang Sang Bleu timepiece, developed in partnership with tattoo artist and Hublot Ambassador Maxime Buchi, the horologer set up an exclusive Sang Bleu pop-up tattoo parlor in its Miami’store.

Tattoo artist Maxime Buchi at work in Hublot Galerie in Miami's Design District.
Tattoo artist Maxime Buchi at work in Hublot Galerie in Miami’s Design District.

Inside, Buchi, founder of the Sang Bleu studio in London, is to ink invite-only media representatives and Hublot’s friends. Fans, of course, are welcome to follow the creative process, meet the famed artist and browse the boutique, which houses many exclusive Hublot timepieces that are not available in the rest of the United States.

One such piece is Hublot’s Big Bang Sang Bleu, which is Buchi’s reinterpretation of the brand’s noted 45mm Big Bang. “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,” Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe said in a press statement. “The result is a timepiece for collectors of exceptional watches and art alike.”

Hublot Big Bang Sang Bleu.
Hublot Big Bang Sang Bleu.

The roundness of the antecedent watch is all but gone in the sculptural novelty. The beveled titanium Big Bang Sang Bleu boasts a hexagonal bezel, which embraces a matte black dial with Sang Bleu’s signature geometric graphic, reminiscent of de Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. A circular satin-finish flange carries the hour numerals, designed by Buchi’s typeface agency SwissTypefaces SARL. The minutes are written across a discrete counter, tucked beneath the metal Sang Bleu diagram. No hands tick on the dial.

Time is indicated by three superimposed rhodium-plated, octagonal discs. With one tip plated in white Superluminova, the largest shows the hour, while a smaller one the minutes. The tiniest disc, stamped with the H of Hublot, counts the seconds.

Linked to a calfskin-and-rubber strap, which is hot stamped in a gradient from black to gray, the striking Big Bang Sang Bleu comes in only 200 units. It is available at Hublot Galerie in Miami, the Bal Harbour boutique as well as Hublot stores globally.

Buchi’s Sang Bleu pop-up in Miami is open on December 2 – 3, from 3pm – 6pm.