For the first time, the emblematic men’s fashion house Berluti and the watchmaker Hublot, both masters of exceptional craftmanship, turn their focus to the Big Bang Unico chronograph and unveil the Big Bang Unico Berluti Cold Brown
Initiated four years ago, the collaboration between the French men’s fashion house Berluti and the watchmaking manufacture Hublot has given life to a series of unforgettable watches. Bringing together the former’s legendary Venezia leather and its patina with the latter’s art of fusion of materials, these different models have all had the Hublot Classic Fusion watch as their base.
For this new reveal, the two houses had gone back to the drawing board working hand in hand with Kris Van Assche, Creative Director of Berluti, to design a model based for the first time on the iconic Big Bang Unico chronograph.
Thanks to their reputed mastery of materials, Hublot’s engineers drew on the experience gained during previous collaborations with Berluti to be able to apply the house’s iconic Venezia leather to the Big Bang Unico’s dial. A construction encases the leather between two pieces of sapphire glass, cut out for the first time to allow the wearer to admire the gears of the Unico movement. Thanks to a delicate process developed in collaboration with Berluti, the organic elements of the leather have been encapsulated, as if frozen in time, so as to render the living beauty of the natural hide unchanging. And for this new interpretation, the Venezia leather comes in Cold Brown patina.
Another innovation is that whereas on previous editions, it was only reserved for the strap and the dial, the Venezia leather in Cold Brown patina also features on the watch’s bezel. This achievement was possible thanks to the development of a new conception of the bezel, in two parts. Thanks to an adhesive and rigidifying resin, the first part of the bezel – in leather and around 1mm thick – is inserted onto the second part, which is a lower base in black ceramic, which is then screwed onto the case of the watch. The bezel will be able to continue taking on a patina over time, similar to the watch strap that is a fusion of patina leather and rubber.
Diving into Berluti’s archives, Kris Van Assche decided to take inspiration from a past patina and bring it back up-to-date to create the Cold Brown patina. A glacé finish on it emphasises the various brown shades composing this subtle colour. This patina is the result of a long and complex handwork, and each piece is unique thanks to the colour variations created by this craftsmanship.
At the heart of this Hublot Big Bang beats the iconic Unico manufacture movement, a chronograph with flyback function. Here, the MHUB1242 calibre beats from within a case of 45-millimetre diameter, and offers a 72-hour power reserve.
The Hublot Big Bang Unico Berluti Cold Brown watch fuses the heritage of the men’s fashion house Berluti, the vision of its creative Director Kris Van Assche, and the mastery of materials of the Hublot Manufacture. Delivered in a chest signed by the two houses, presenting the emblematic Berluti shoehorn key ring and travel case, this model is available in a limited edition of 100 pieces.
