Often, when designers collaborate with brands, the starting point is their pre-existing aesthetic. When Samuel Ross, the multidisciplinary designer best known to fashion fans for founding the label A-COLD-WALL*, got a chance to collaborate with watchmaker Hublot, he didn’t see it that way. Instead, he mined Hublot’s heritage of technical and material innovation for inspiration.
“What we’re trying to do here is make sure there’s a strong emotional aesthetic language, but ensure that it’s rooted in the history of Hublot’s manufacturing and technology history,” Ross says of his ongoing collaboration with the Swiss watchmaker. “I wanted to have a conversation about finding ways to make it about not just about aesthetics but also the material.”
So, when it came time to unveil their third collaboration, the Big Bang Tourbillon Carbon SR_A, during the week of Art Basel Miami Beach, the team needed to find the appropriate venue. Instead of some traditional flashy South Beach venue, Hublot sent out invites to a space in Miami Ironside, a mixed-used district on the mainland with an industrial flair.
CEO Julien Tornare is new to the brand, having started in September, but was already aware of Hublot’s reputation for throwing the best parties in the watch industry. It was therefore no surprise that one of the week’s ritziest crowds showed up to fete the unveiling.
Joe Jonas, wearing a leather bomber jacket and a full mustache, showed up with the brand-new blue-band watch already on his wrist.
Miami Heat star Tyler Herro and legendary Olympian Usain Bolt led the athlete contingent.
Meduza, the Italian Grammy-nominated house producer, provided beats for the night, but the room was nearly silent when Ross and Tornare took the stage to unveil the watch. The model was produced in a limited run of just 50 pieces, most of which were already accounted for by the time of the party—all the more reason to get excited about Hublot and Ross’s next collaboration—and their next fete.
