HUBLOT SPIRIT OF BIG BANG SANG BLEU: THE EMBODIMENT & SPIRIT IN THREE DIMENSIONS
For the 7th year and third collaboration with Hublot, Maxime Plescia-Buchi is channelling the Spirit of Big Bang through the Sang Bleu prism. Just as his tattoos create new identity, revealing new shapes and new perspectives, the celebrated typographer, tattooist, artist and founder of Sang Bleu injects a new spirit into the Spirit of Big Bang collection. The Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu stays true to the series’ characteristics while remaining highly distinctive. With a faceted, structured 42 mm diameter, this watch has an enhanced three- dimensional and ergonomically-enhanced design. There are three limited editions to adorn your wrist – 200 units in titanium, 200 in All Black ceramic and 100 in King Gold. In addition, two models are set with 180 diamonds in titanium and King Gold.
Launched in 2014, the Spirit of Big Bang retained all of the Big Bang’s original features in a barrel-shaped case. A reinterpretation of Hublot’s DNA, simultaneously identical yet so different. For this third collaboration, Maxime has infused it with a new spirit without changing its soul, introducing the Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu. He achieves this same transformation, injecting the concepts of the Big Bang Sang Bleu I & II, by redefining the lines of the Spirit of Big Bang. Without losing what makes our barrel watch so distinctive, he gives it a new identity, a spatial redesign and a more architectural dimension, revealed by the Sang Bleu geometry and symmetry. A fusion that exceeds perfection. The symbol of a collaboration that highlights the best features and unique potential of each design. In our watches and in our collaborations, one philosophy underscores the vision of everything we do: to adapt to the container while always focusing on the quality of the content.
Identical or different? Both… But always unique!
Ensuring consistency while remaining innovative. Keeping the spirit while creating a unique, exclusive and distinctive object. This is the subtlety of the art behind the Hublot and Maxime Plescia-Buchi collaboration. The talented tattoo artist has reimagined the strokes of the Spirit of Big Bang with stretched, elongated bevelled features and measured, perfectly proportioned angles that fit together to create a timepiece where the Sang Bleu signature is instantly recognisable. Like each of his tattoos, the line adapts to the case, to its distinctive characteristics, reliefs, curves, and texture, while retaining what is essential: its spirit. This is the same philosophy that inspired the Spirit of Big Bang.
Hublot x Sang Bleu: Seven years of artistic and creative collaboration
First introduced in the 2016 Hublot – Sang Bleu series, 2023 saw the third edition unveiled at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. The tattoo artist has stamped his indelible, distinctive, and assertive line on a new collection. After the Big Bang, his signature now adorns the Spirit of Big Bang. As usual, he traces his three- dimensional geometry in perfect symmetry with a mysteriously magnetic architecture, playing with relief and depth through polished, satin finished, engraved, chiselled, bevelled and faceted materials. Hexagons, diamonds and triangles appear and overlap, redefining shapes and volumes line by line.
My collaboration with Hublot is like constructing a house, an architectural project in itself. The Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu is the third wall of this shared structure. It signifies a landmark, as the house we are building now stands firmly and coherently in its own right. After having made my mark on the Big Bang, my creative process has taken on a new form. This is the new collection, and the barrel shape of the Spirit of Big Bang. I have been able to question and review each component, from the case to the crystal, the bracelet to the clasp, considering each shape and proportion through a holistic reflection. The aim is to incorporate the DNA of the Big Bang Sang Bleu II into the Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu. The result is a similar geometric aesthetic with a new interpretation of shapes and volumes. This creation is guided by perfectly proportioned shapes that interact and overlap to create a unique, distinctive design while enhancing the ergonomics for the wearer.
The result: The Spirit Big Bang Sang Bleu
A 42 mm-diameter case, crafted in a choice of three materials: Titanium (200 units), All Black ceramic (200 units) or King Gold (100 units), as well as two models set with 180 diamonds weighing approximately 2.4 carats, in titanium and King Gold. Geometric tattoos alternate and overlap from the case to the bezel. A sapphire dial displays the HUB4700 automatic skeleton chronograph movement through disc hands bearing the characteristic geometry of timepieces made in collaboration with Sang Bleu.
A watch that, even with its ultra-generous proportions and prominent shape, offers a perfect ergonomic fit across all wrist sizes, for both men and women, with or without a bezel. The geometry of the Big Bang Sang Bleu II has been retained while also optimising the dynamic nature of the barrel shape.
In terms of design, to ensure that the watch perfectly fits the curves of the wrist and is flush with the body, the back of the case and the sapphire crystal have been arched at several points. In terms of dial legibility, the structure of the hands has been enhanced and the hour and minute markers have been refined.
By transposing his line onto a different volume, the barrel shape of the Spirit of Big Bang, Maxime has given new perspective to each component, shape and proportion. It is these details that give the Spirit of Big Bang a new dimension, just as Hublot gave a new spirit to the Big Bang codes by unveiling the Spirit of Big Bang in its barrel shape back in 2014.
Hublot – Sang Bleu – Trilogy
Hublot & Maxime Plescia-Buchi have art in their blood and are “inking” the art of tattooing into watchmaking. In 2016, the first Big Bang Sang Bleu saw the three-dimensional geometry of the famous tattoo artist imprinted on its design, revealing a perfectly proportioned structure inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. This quest for perfection and the use of symbols is the hallmark of all of Sang Bleu’s creative work. In 2019, with the Sang Bleu II, the tattoo artist x watchmaker collaboration was expressed as a “full body” tattoo across the entire Big Bang model, including the case, the hexagonal bezel, the sapphire crystal, the hands, and the bracelet. A three-dimensional style that has been entirely revamped in 2023 to embody a new “tattooed” collection – the Spirit of Big Bang. In perfect fusion with the way Hublot launched the Spirit of Big Bang in 2014, incorporating Hublot’s DNA and the distinctive codes of the Big Bang (its 6 H-shaped titanium screws running through the watch bezel, sandwich construction with endless combinations of materials and colours, signature lugs on each side of the case, and a screwed crown over moulded with rubber), Maxime has revisited each component of the Spirit of Big Bang.
