The Swiss watchmaker Hublot unveiled a new timepiece, the MP-15, developed with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
The new watch combines floral sapphire with a central tourbillon. With just 50 pieces available, the MP-15 Takashi Murakami is the first limited-edition Hublot timepiece with a central flying tourbillon. “Our customers do not want to choose between technology and style: they want both, with no compromise on either. Our mission is not to fulfil their expectations but to surpass them. Our MP-15 is designed to do just that. It magnifies the sapphire, a material only the Hublot manufacture is able to work at this level, both in terms of complexity and geometry,” said Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot CEO.
For this model, Hublot have fused the case, movement and dial in a unique arrangement. In the dial’s customary location sits the complication, with the hands occupying a peripheral position. At the centre is Hublot’s first series-produced central flying tourbillon – unique and different from anything they have created before.
This central flying tourbillon features an impressive power reserve of 150 hours, almost a full week, an exceptional technical achievement for this type of complication. Hublot have also designed the tourbillon without an upper bridge. All its components are skeletonised. This makes it easy to appreciate how much work has gone into developing the MP-15, in which some of the gears and all of the tourbillon components – which appear to float in space – are visible. The timepiece is surrounded by Takashi Murakami’s iconic motif, a flower composed of 12 petals made entirely of sapphire. The bloom features soft curves and bold, generous volumes. In this piece, Hublot’s aim was to create absolute transparency in order to maximise the luminosity of the MP-15: sapphire case, sapphire case-back, sapphire crown, translucent flange and strap. The sun will never merely shine on this floral work of art; it will pass straight through it, illuminating its curves and reliefs.
“Up until now, my work has focused on colour. It was a really exciting challenge to start a whole new chapter focussing on absolute transparency. The forms and volumes are perceived completely differently. With Hublot, we were able to preserve the individuality of my floral motif, but with a unique and different identity which was purer and perfectly in tune with Hublot’s mechanical universe. I’m very proud of the result!” said Takashi Murakami
Hublot’s collections are available at Bahrain Jewellery Centre (BJC).
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