Hublot is a regular participant of the Only Watch charity auction. For the upcoming edition of the biennial event which is scheduled for the next November, Hublot has prepared a watch which is made in collaboration with the famed Brazilian neo-pop artist, Romero Britto. The timekeeper in question features a champlevé enamel dial which is inspired by one of Britto’s recognizable colorful paintings and which will be sold along with that archetype piece of art. The watch called Classic Fusion Only Watch Britto is placed inside a black ceramic housing and features an ultra-thin and hand-wound mechanical movement with central hours and minutes, as well as with small seconds.
Hublot is continuing its fruitful collaboration with the Brazilian-born artist that now resides in Florida. The partnership between them kicked off when Britto designed a colorful soccer ball for the brand which was the sponsor of the world cup that took place in his native country. Since then, they have also created a model which was presented at this year’s edition of the Baselworld fair. That piece is very similar to the one made for Only Watch and it features the same basic traits as the new one.
Of course, the timepiece made for the auction is unique, just like the rest of the watches at the auction, which is implied in the name of the event. Its styling is modeled after a painting by the neo-pop artist which is additionally altered to include the words “Only Watch” on its dial. The fact that the wristwatch will be sold along with the painting that inspired it will undoubtedly contribute to the final price.
Britto’s work of art was transformed into a dial of a watch with a use of a champlevé enamel technique. In this enameling procedure, metal (in this case white gold) is carved away with the use of a tool named burin. The chambers that are made this way are then filled with enamel and subsequently treated with extreme temperatures around 800 Celsius. Once the surface is cooled down, it is polished which is the last phase in the technique,
The dial of Hublot Classic Fusion Only Watch Britto includes six different opaque colors. The chosen shades comprise a colorful and eye-pleasing ensemble that clearly shows the influence of cubism, which is seen throughout the Britto’s body of work. Otherwise, the dial includes black coated central hour and minute hands, and an off-centered small seconds counter that sits at the seven o’clock position.
As it is clear by the name of the piece, it is placed inside a Classic fusion type of housing. The round housing has the diameter of 45 mm and features a fixed bezel which is secured by 6 H-shaped screws. Both the housing and the bezel are made of black polished ceramic. Its supported water resistance is 50 meters.
The watch runs on HUB 1302 manually-wound mechanical movement. It is a caliber comprised of 123 components in total which also incorporates 23 jewels in its construction. Its supported power reserve lasts for more than four entire days (about 90 hours).
The strap of choice is a glossy red alligator leather strap with black rubber lining and silver stitching.
