For the 7th year and third collaboration with Hublot, Maxime Plescia-Buchi is channelling the Spirit of Big Bang through the Sang Bleu prism. Just as his tattoos create new identity, revealing new shapes and new perspectives, the celebrated typographer, tattooist, artist and founder of Sang Bleu injects a new spirit into the Spirit of Big Bang collection. The Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu stays true to the series’ characteristics while remaining highly distinctive. With a faceted, structured 42 mm diameter, this watch has an enhanced threedimensional and ergonomically-enhanced design. There are three limited editions to adorn your wrist – 200 units in titanium, 200 in All Black ceramic and 100 in King Gold. In addition, two models are set with 180 diamonds in titanium and King Gold.
It is in beautiful Milan, a city known for its breath-taking art scene as well as for being the home of fashion, that Hublot showcased its latest collection in partnership with Sang Bleu, all against the backdrop of the Salone del Mobile. The city was the ideal setting for the launch of this unique collaboration under the influence of Art, Design and Fashion.
During a special evening at the Galleria Meravigli, five new limited editions were unveiled for the first time in company of Sang Bleu’s founder, Maxime Plescia Buchi and Hublot’s CEO, Ricardo Guadalupe. The event followed into the evening with performances by Lous & the Yakuza and Laolu.
Launched in 2014, the Spirit of Big Bang retained all of the Big Bang’s original features in a barrel-shaped case. A reinterpretation of Hublot’s DNA, simultaneously identical yet so different. For this third collaboration, Maxime has infused it with a new spirit without changing its soul, introducing the Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu. He achieves this same transformation, injecting the concepts of the Big Bang Sang Bleu I & II, by redefining the lines of the Spirit of Big Bang. Without losing what makes our barrel watch so distinctive, he gives it a new identity, a spatial redesign and a more architectural dimension, revealed by the Sang Bleu geometry and symmetry. A fusion that exceeds perfection. The symbol of a collaboration that highlights the best features and unique potential of each design. In our watches and in our collaborations, one philosophy underscores the vision of everything we do: to adapt to the container while always focusing on the quality of the content.
RICARDO GUADALUPE – HUBLOT CEO
Identical or different? Both… But always unique!
Ensuring consistency while remaining innovative. Keeping the spirit while creating a unique, exclusive and distinctive object. This is the subtlety of the art behind the Hublot and Maxime Plescia-Buchi collaboration. The talented tattoo artist has reimagined the strokes of the Spirit of Big Bang with stretched, elongated bevelled features and measured, perfectly proportioned angles that fit together to create a timepiece where the Sang Bleu signature is instantly recognisable. Like each of his tattoos, the line adapts to the case, to its distinctive characteristics, reliefs, curves, and texture, while retaining what is essential: its spirit. This is the same philosophy that inspired the Spirit of Big Bang.
Hublot x Sang Bleu: Seven years of artistic and creative collaboration
First introduced in the 2016 Hublot – Sang Bleu series, 2023 saw the third edition unveiled at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. The tattoo artist has stamped his indelible, distinctive, and assertive line on a new collection. After the Big Bang, his signature now adorns the Spirit of Big Bang. As usual, he traces his threedimensional geometry in perfect symmetry with a mysteriously magnetic architecture, playing with relief and depth through polished, satin finished, engraved, chiselled, bevelled and faceted materials. Hexagons, diamonds and triangles appear and overlap, redefining shapes and volumes line by line.
My collaboration with Hublot is like constructing a house, an architectural project in itself. The Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu is the third wall of this shared structure. It signifies a landmark, as the house we are uilding now stands firmly and coherently in its own right. After having made my mark on the Big Bang, my creative process has taken on a new form. This is the new collection, and the barrel shape of the Spirit of Big Bang. I have been able to question and review each component, from the case to the crystal, the bracelet to the clasp, considering each shape and proportion through a holistic reflection. The aim is to incorporate the DNA of the Big Bang Sang Bleu II into the Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu. The result is a similar geometric aesthetic with a new interpretation of shapes and volumes. This creation is guided by perfectly proportioned shapes that interact and overlap to create a unique, distinctive design while enhancing the ergonomics for the wearer.
MAXIME PLESCIA-BUCHI -SANG BLEU FOUNDER, HUBLOT AMBASSADOR
The result: The Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu
A 42 mm-diameter case, crafted in a choice of three materials: Titanium (200 units), All Black ceramic (200 units) or King Gold (100 units), as well as two models set with 180 diamonds weighing approximately 2.4 carats, in titanium and King Gold. Geometric tattoos alternate and overlap from the case to the bezel. A sapphire dial displays the HUB4700 automatic skeleton chronograph movement through disc hands bearing the characteristic geometry of timepieces made in collaboration with Sang Bleu.
A watch that, even with its ultra-generous proportions and prominent shape, offers a perfect ergonomic fit across all wrist sizes, for both men and women, with or without a bezel. The geometry of the Big Bang Sang Bleu II has been retained while also optimising the dynamic nature of the barrel shape.
In terms of design, to ensure that the watch perfectly fits the curves of the wrist and is flush with the body, the back of the case and the sapphire crystal have been arched at several points. In terms of dial legibility, the structure of the hands has been enhanced and the hour and minute markers have been refined.
By transposing his line onto a different volume, the barrel shape of the Spirit of Big Bang, Maxime has given new perspective to each component, shape and proportion. It is these details that give the Spirit of Big Bang a new dimension, just as Hublot gave a new spirit to the Big Bang codes by unveiling the Spirit of Big Bang in its barrel shape back in 2014.
Hublot – Sang Bleu – Trilogy
Hublot & Maxime Plescia-Buchi have art in their blood and are “inking” the art of tattooing into watchmaking. In 2016, the first Big Bang Sang Bleu saw the three-dimensional geometry of the famous tattoo artist imprinted on its design, revealing a perfectly proportioned structure inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian
Man. This quest for perfection and the use of symbols is the hallmark of all of Sang Bleu’s creative work. In 2019, with the Sang Bleu II, the tattoo artist x watchmaker collaboration was expressed as a “full body” tattoo across the entire Big Bang model, including the case, the hexagonal bezel, the sapphire crystal, the hands, and the bracelet. A three-dimensional style that has been entirely revamped in 2023 to embody a new “tattooed” collection – the Spirit of Big Bang. In perfect fusion with the way Hublot launched the Spirit of Big Bang in 2014, incorporating Hublot’s DNA and the distinctive codes of the Big Bang (its 6 H-shaped titanium screws running through the watch bezel, sandwich construction with endless combinations of materials and colours, signature lugs on each side of the case, and a screwed crown over moulded with rubber), Maxime has revisited each component of the Spirit of Big Bang.
Spirit Of Big Bang Sang Bleu All Black, Titanium & Titanium Pavé
Reference
- ALL BLACK – 648.CX.0114.RX.MXM23, Limited to 200 pieces
- TITANIUM- 648.NX.0107.RX.MXM23, Limited to 200 pieces
- TITANIUM PAVÉ- 648.NX.0107.RX.1604.MXM23, Set with 180 diamonds for approximately 2.4 carats
Movement
- HUB4700
- Self-winding Skeleton Chronograph
- Frequency: 5 (36’000 A/H)
- Power reserve (hours): 50
- Number of components: 278
- Jewels: 31
Case
- Satin/Polished Black ceramic
- Satin/Polished Titanium
- Titanium set with 80 diamonds
- Diameter: 42 mm
- Thickness: 15.7 mm
- Water resistance: 10 ATM
Dial
- Sapphire
Strap & Clasp
- Black smooth rubber
- Black ceramic and Black
- PVD Titanium Deployant Buckle
- Black smooth rubber
- Titanium and Titanium Deployant Buckle
Price
- ALL BLACK: 28’900,00 CHF / 31’800,00 EUR / 30’400,00 USD / 26’200,00 GBP
- TITANIUM: 26’900,00 CHF / 29’600,00 EUR / 28’300,00 USD/ 24’400,00 GBP
- TITANIUM PAVÉ: 45’900,00 CHF/ 50’500,00 EUR / 48’300,00 USD 41’600,00 GBP
Spirit Of Big Bang Sang Bleu King Gold & King Gold Pavé
Reference
- KING GOLD: 648.OX.0108.RX.MXM23, Limited to 100 pieces
- KING GOLD PAVÉ: 648.OX.0108.RX.1604.MXM23, Set with 180 diamonds for approximately 2.4 carats
Movement
- HUB4700
- Self-winding Skeleton Chronograph
- Frequency: 5 (36’000 A/H)
- Power reserve (hours): 50
- Number of components: 278
- Jewels: 31
Case
- Satin/Polished King Gold
- King Gold set with 80 diamonds
- Diameter: 42 mm
- Thickness: 15.7 mm
- Water resistance: 10 ATM
Dial
- Sapphire
Strap & Clasp
- Black smooth rubber
- King Gold and Black titanium Deployant Buckle
- PVD Titanium Deployant Buckle
- Black smooth rubber
- King Gold and Black PVD titanium Deployant Buckle
Price
- KING GOLD: 47’900,00 CHF / 52’700,00 EUR / 50’400,00 USD / 43’500,00 GBP
- KING GOLD PAVÉ: 66’900,00 CHF / 73’600,00 EUR / 70’400,00 USD / 60’700,00 GBP
HUBLOT
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, Shaped Collection (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).
Hublot’s world extends to powerful partnerships including football. ‘Hublot Loves Football’ has become the slogan at the world’s biggest sporting events (such as the FIFA World CupTM, Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA EUROTM) 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.