Earlier this year at SIHH, Hublot unveiled one of its most vibrant women’s collections to date: Hublot Big Bang Pop Art watches. Drawing inspiration from Andy Warhol, a pioneer in the Pop Art Movement, Hublot created a dizzying collection of ultra feminine automatic chronograph timepieces with a daring disregard of conformity and an edgy feeling of fun. The watches are available in hot pink, purple, dazzling blue and apple green. Not only do these colors evoke a feeling of pop art era nostalgia, they are some of the hottest spring colors for 2014.
The 41mm watch design is almost identical to the highly popular Hublot Big Bang Ladies Chronograph Tutti Frutti Collection, originally unveiled in 2008. The Award Winning Big Bang watch design is the most successful Hublot design to date, thus creating new models based on this popular design is almost a sure sale. Creating a limited edition timepiece inspired by one of the most popular contemporary artists adds an attractive incentive to watch buyers.
The 41mm case size is very much the current trend in women’s watches. Hop into any boutique or fashion store, as I do quite often, and scan the watches. You will notice a large proportion of ladies watches are around the 40mm mark. At this size, a watch creates a definite fashion statement and becomes a notable addition to one’s appearance. Of course, it is not just the size; there are tons of cheap brands creating watch monstrosities with shoddy craftsmanship, however, a Hublot Big Bang Pop Art Watch sporting intriguing dial artistry ensures instant recognition, excitement and appreciation of a highly desirable brand.
Brightly colored gems set into the bezel makes this watch as a piece of jewelry as well as a sporty chronograph. Within its bejeweled boundary is an explosion of color. Hublot’s design team worked tirelessly to create a dial portraying Andy Warhol’s signature artistic expression. The unique use of color and shading around the indices and numerals, sub-dial colors, case, bezel and band color combinations resemble the intriguing color combinations of Andy Warhol’s famed Marilyn Monroe portraits. In addition, the color of each watch corresponds to a different color depicted in Andy Warhol’s famous “Six Self Portraits” which were up for auction at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on March 14th, 2014 in New York – a mere stones throw away from Hublot’s Madison Avenue flagship store.
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was an artist who defined an era of pop art and sent the visual arts movement into high gear. His bold creations extended far beyond the canvas to photography, sculptures, silk screening, printmaking, sculpture, film, music, album covers and products. His concepts of branding continues to influence the industry today. He painted iconic objects and celebrities in the American lifestyle of the 1960’s: Celebrities such as Marylin Monroe, Elvis Presley, Mohammed Ali and Elizabeth Taylor…and he adored fine watches. He personally knew Gerry Grinberg, founder and former chairman of Movado Group, who master minded the Movado Andy Warhol Times 5.
Warhol’s adventurous spirit of color, design and subject matter–one cannot forget the Andy Warhol 1962 iconic Campbell soup cans–erupt from Hublot’s Big Bang Pop Art Collection.
I had a hands-on with the hot pink model and its a beaut. Due to snug fitting rubber strap, the watch felt very comfortable on my wrist. As my wrist is relatively small, watches often slide; however, the Hublot stayed put without the feeling of a too tight strap. In addition, the watch colors did a smashing job of adding a dash of color to my wrist.
Viewing the watch collection as a whole, one can see the 18k 3N yellow gold pink model and apple green model utilize the same colors in opposite combination as with the stainless steel purple model and blue model. For a further feminine touch, 48 baguette precious stones punctuated by 6 of Hublot’s signature H shaped titanium screws, bedazzle the bezel. Topazes cluster above the Big Bang blue model, amethysts upon the purple, sapphires surround the pink and tsavorites–a lessor known but equally exquisite gem–on the green. The blue dial serves as a backdrop to numerals, indices and sub dials, decorated as if a stencil was used as part of the screen printing process, Andy Warhol’s method of choice.