For this year’s LVMH Watch Week, Hublot has unveiled their latest collaboration with the artist Richard Orlinskli, a pair of limited edition tourbillons in pop-art inspired shades with dramatically skeletonized dials. The Hublot partnership with Orlinski goes back to 2017, and during the ensuing years the Swiss watch brand and French contemporary artist have developed a bona fide collection within a collection. The Orlinski pieces, whether they’re to your taste or not, are so clearly connected to the artist that they are immediately recognizable, often using bold colors and prominent facets at oblique angles, a style that is a clear extension of his sculpture work. The new Classic Fusion Tourbillon Orlinski is full of familiar ideas from previous collaborations and Hublot mainstays, but pulled together into something that feels entirely new.
The new collaboration starts with a 45mm Classic Fusion case in either yellow of sky blue ceramic, but true to form with the Orlinski watches, Hublot has given the artist the opportunity to shape and mold the case to his taste, adding the contours and facets that make the pieces so identifiable as “Orlinskis” to begin with. It’s uncommon for watch brands to give their collaborating partners this level of freedom, but it’s something we’ve seen from Hublot not just with Orlinksi, but in their work with tattoo artist Maxime Plescia-Buchi as well. Say what you will about Hublot, but they deserve credit for allowing the artists they work with to have so much creative freedom on these projects, rather than supplying them with ready-made, stock cases.
The heart of the watch is the manually wound HUB6021 caliber, completely skeletonized and featuring black PVD skeletonized bridges on the yellow version, and silver rhodium plated bridges on the sky blue. A power reserve indicator between the 8:00 and 9:00 positions highlights the movement’s five day power reserve, and of course we get a great view of the tourbillon at 6:00. These choices in movement decoration yield watches that give you completely different visual impressions. The yellow is high contrast and bold with the black coated movement component, while the sky blue watch has a far more subdued, almost monochromatic appearance.
Only thirty examples of each Classic Fusion Tourbillon Orlinsky will be made. The retail price is set at $95,000. Hublot
