Introducing – Hublot Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Concrete Jungle made with Artist Tristan Eaton

Hublot is no stranger for doing the unorthodox thing, whether it being on the technical side or on the aesthetical side. Talk about innovative technical prowess and the Hublot LaFerrari pops up. Mention weird or wonderful materials and perhaps you think of the Hublot Classic Fusion Berluti, with its leather dials. Now though, Hublot incorporates a rough-and-tough material, not often used for watchmaking: concrete! Here is the Hublot Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Concrete Jungle made with Artist Tristan Eaton.

The Hublot Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Concrete Jungle in front of a street art scenery by Artist Tristan Eaton – On the right, Tristan Eaton

Dedicated to the city that never sleeps, the city of bright lights, the city so often cited and sang to by some of the biggest stars: New York. It isn’t hard to imagine that when asked to create timepiece that is a tribute to this great city, concrete is high on the list of inspirations. New York City is of course famous for being called the Concrete Jungle, a testament to the vast urban landscape on the banks of the Hudson. Home to close to 20 million people (to compare: my home country of the Netherlands touches 17 million) New York is a landmark in itself.

In collaboration with New York based graffiti artist Tristan Eaton, Hublot created this Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Concrete Jungle. Tristan Eaton is known for creating street-art all over the city, in bold and colorful collages. Incorporating everything from toys, pin-up ladies, animals and rural imagery, he creates large works of art throughout the city. His work is even on display in the legendary MOMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York).

To incorporate street art, and a physical hint to New York might seem easy, but to do it without making something look ridiculous is quite tricky. The Hublot Classis Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Concrete Jungle (They should really think before naming watches, and making names shorter…) fuses a concrete bezel inlay with a Tristan Eaton painted Lady Liberty on the back of the watch. We’ve seen cement, or concrete in watchmaking before of course, with the introduction of the Giuliano Mazzuoli Cemento. This Italian-designed watch with automatic movement featured a case of cement, where this Hublot features a bezel of concrete. Although often used to indicate the same, there is a difference between cement and concrete. Cement is a binder, and mixed with gravel or sand to create concrete, so one is an ingredient for the other. Capiche?

The bezel of the Hublot Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Special Edition Concrete Jungle is made of concrete and epoxy resin in order to make it less impervious for weather influences. A colorful plaque on the backside of the watch depicts the (head) Statue of Liberty, the preverbial guardian of the Hudson bay if you will. The black microblasted ceramic case, 45mm in diameter, houses the HUB1155 movement, an automatic chronograph movement. This movement is skeletonized and visible under the sapphire dial with printed NYC logo at 12. It indicates the running seconds at 3 and a 30 minute counter at 9.

The Hublot Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Concrete Jungle is limited to 50 pieces, comes with a price tag of $19,500 USD and will be sold exclusively through Hublot’s New York boutiques on Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue. www.hublot.com.