Brand ambassadors Usain Bolt and Pele joined Hublot in New York yesterday as the luxury Swiss watchmaker officially opened its impressive new global flagship store.
Crowds gathered by the crossroads of the iconic Fifth Avenue and 57th Street as Hublot unveiled its latest boutique at a special ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by CEO Ricardo Guadalupe. They witnessed Bandaloop dancers descending from the rooftop presenting Bolt with his newest Limited Edition Watch ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games.
The new space at 743 Fifth Avenue is the latest in the long collaboration between Peter Marino Architect and Hublot. The firm has created a new dramatic façade, lit with LEDs and featuring powder coated black aluminium panels to evoke the straps of a timepiece, that rises above Manhattan’s famous shopping street. At 70 feet high it is the brand’s tallest in the world.
The boutique’s décor has been designed to reflect Hublot’s use of unique materials, which the brand says maintains a prominent role in its watchmaking design.
Inside, the 1,500 square feet interior conveys a contemporary style, with black lava stone and wood floors, graphite-coloured leather furnishings, glass and polished stainless steel fixtures. High-tech innovations can be found throughout, including “shadow-less” LCD vitrine windows, a wall of monitors and a “book” with virtual turning pages charting Hublot’s history in the main window.
Meanwhile, earlier this week Hublot launched the new Big Bang timepiece in collaboration with famous London tattoo studio Sang Bleu. The Big Bang has been completely redesigned and the tradition round bezel transformed into a hexagon.
Available in a run of 200 pieces, the titanium Big Bang Sang Bleu follows the rhythm of the Unico manufacture movement, which has been entirely remodelled without a chronograph and redesigned in order to tell the time through three discs.
The Big Bang Sang Bleu is held on a black calfskin strap. Sewn onto rubber, it is hot stamped in a gradient from black to gray. As a reminder of the collaboration, the Sang Bleu logo is engraved on the back of the strap.