The happy relationship between Hublot and Berluti
Hublot and Berluti formed a partnership in 2016. The original model that fully utilizes the individuality of both parties is the ideal form of collaboration, and it has become a hot topic every time, such as a series of immediate sales outs.
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This year, the seventh year of the album, the new “Big Bang Unico Berluti Arminio King Gold” was announced. Limited to 50 pieces only in Japan Japan. It’s a special offer from Hublot.
Hublot’s original material, 18K king gold, combined with Berluti’s signature patine “Arminio”, gives it a unique elegance. In addition to the case, the king gold bezel with Venetian leather inserts with monochrome patine is exquisite in grey and gold tones.
The bezel is screwed into the case and integrated with the Hublot style. The cutwork on the dial in Venetian leather, embossed with indexes and the words “Swiss Made”, reveals the structure of the Unico chronograph movement developed and manufactured in-house by Hublot.
You don’t have to be a leather lover to know Berluti’s name, but the two workshops and shops on Rue Sèvres on the Left Bank and Rue Marbeuf on the Right Bank of Paris are home to Venetian leather, a material that only Berluti can use.
Venetian leather is tanned in the company’s own workshop and has a unique luster. The traditional technique of repeating manual decolorization and dyeing process is applied many times using various pigments, dyes, solvents and essential oils. The processing is called “patine”, and the unique color, luster and shading, and original gradation that do not produce two identical colors conveyed Berluti’s fame to the world and made it immovable. In addition, the decoration of calligraphy, called “skrit”, in which leather is burned and written, became a perfect icon.
The secret technique of “Berluti of Paris” founded in 1895. Hublot did not miss its charm, nor did Berluti. I am strongly attracted to the fact that this relationship was not a common one, such as making a watch body and a leather strap separately. I think it is precisely because both sides have seriously crossed the border into the other’s field that the collaboration between different talents and different talents has been successful.
Launched in 2018, the Classic Fusion Chronograph Edition Berluti Skrit Blue has a calligraphed leather that invades not only the strap but also the dial. In the Big Bang Unico Berluti Arminio introduced in 2021, Venetian leather crossed the border on the bezel. In 2022 Japan only 100 pieces of the limited edition Big Bang Unico Berluti White Gray were produced. And this time, it follows the latest work of 2023, “Big Bang Unico Berluti Arminio King Gold”.
It is a perfect blend of being an excellent watch and attractive leather goods, and elevates each to new heights. The value of such a collaboration model is extremely high.
HUBLOT
Big Bang Unico Berluti Arminio King Gold
18-carat king gold case× Berluti Venetian leather + black rubber strap, self-winding, 44mm diameter, limited to 50 pieces Japan. 6,831,000 yen (HUBLOT/LVMH Watch & Jewellery Japan Hublot TEL: 03-5635-7055)
Koichi Namiki
Editing: Akira Kamiya (GQ)
