New Ambassador of the Hublot brand conveyed its unique aesthetics to the Big Bang Meca-10 watch …
Shepard Fairey, an internationally renowned street artist known for creating the “Hope” portrayal of Barack Obama and the “Obey” art campaign, usually works with large murals, which often cover entire buildings. But during his new collaboration with the Hublot brand, he had to reduce his bulky aesthetics to the dimensions of the case and dials of a watch to create a Big Bang Meca-10 Shepard Fairey edition at a price of $28,300, 45 mm in diameter, available in two versions of blue and white.
Big Bang Meca-10 Shepard Fairey
“I like to work with large surfaces, but I also like new challenges, and I did not want to minimize or hide things that are inherently satisfactory on a watch,” Fairey said during the event when this collaboration was unveiled.
Developed over a span of two years, its manually-wound skeleton calibre, with a 10-day power reserve, contains 223 parts. A testament to beauty and technical expertise, it has two barrels parallel to the power reserve indicator: a cogwheel system with two rakes sliding along a horizontal axis. Accentuating this mechanical architecture, an opening at 3 o’clock sees Shepard Fairey’s “STAR GEAR” logo and unveils a red dot when the movement is nearing the final days of its power reserve, while a gearwheel at 6 o’clock indicates the exact number of days remaining and the regulating organ, coupled with the small second regulator, appears at 7 o’clock.
Big Bang Meca-10 Shepard Fairey
Another key technical feature is Hublot’s patented “one click” mechanism, which allows the watch strap to be changed quickly and easily to offer variety. Stylistically, the Texalium™ case wears a tribal, floral pattern to mimic the artist’s work, which extends throughout the straps. Additionally, the “Star gear” logo can be found in the 3-o’clock sub dial, which further builds on the overall steampunk vibe. The timepieces come in black and navy blue colorways. Moreover, each piece comes in a presentation case containing a signed and numbered letterpress print “Star Gear Collage Red” or “Star Gear Collage Blue” by the artist, framed in concrete, as an extension of the design and color of the corresponding watch.
This watch is the latest and most interesting edition of the existing Hublot Loves Art series, which began in 2014, when the Brazilian pop artist Romero Britto created a sculpture in the shape of a football ball in which were placed watches 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. Then, a number of other artistically inspired collaborations were created.
