Once largely limited to classic hues, watches have in recent years become increasingly colourful, with dials and cases spanning the chromatic spectrum. In this scroll-happy age of social media, there’s no denying that a bit (or a lot) of vibrant colour helps to grab attention. But with saturation not just in terms of colours but also in new products hitting the market, even the most boldly coloured timepiece can benefit from an unusual marketing or design hook. These novelties offer both.
There is a unique prerequisite for would-be buyers of the latest launches by Hublot: They need to own at least one of the 324 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that were issued last April as part of an earlier collaboration between Hublot and influential pop artist Takashi Murakami.
That’s the first step to owning pieces of the new collection by Hublot and Murakami, which comprises 13 unique watches with accompanying NFTs. The watches combine elements from two prior collaborative timepieces: the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black and the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Sapphire Rainbow. Each of the new 45mm black ceramic watches features a gem-set flower — a Murakami signature — that spins with the wearer’s wrist movements.
When sales start next month, 12 of the 13 new watches will be launched. Each of thesse 12 models will feature monochromatic, gem-set petals, with each watch being of a different colour. The owner of each watch will also receive its corresponding, exclusive NFT.
The 13th watch, which has a flower set with gemstones in a rainbow of colours, will only be launched next April — and here, the stakes are even higher. To buy this timepiece, you’ll need to first collect all 12 of the aforementioned new NFTs, which can be traded on the NFT trading platform, OpenSea. If no one manages to do so, Hublot will auction the timepiece for charity.
Related: The purple reign of Hublot’s Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic watch
An unusual take on the gem-set watch, the Excalibur Blacklight Spin-Stone Monobalancier is accented with vivid, colourful spinels that have been synthetically grown. Creating these gemstones in a lab enabled the brand to achieve specific and uniform colours from red to blue. Thanks to a Super-Luminova coating, the stones look just as striking in the dark.
The gemstones are also cut in astonishing ways. On the bezel and flange of the watch, the long, curved stones — which Roger Dubuis calls Spin-Stones — are the result of a cut that is patent-pending. Slivers of expertly cut spinels highlight the brand’s signature star on the openworked dial. The 42mm watch case is crafted from the brand’s own non-tarnishing rose gold, Eon Gold.
Blue is one of watchmaking’s classic colours, while ice blue and purple are two of the It hues of the moment. These are the tones that Louis Erard has chosen to highlight in its latest trio of Excellence Petite Seconde models, which are housed in a new and improved 39mm case.
Bearing a small seconds at 6 o’clock, the Petite Seconde is the flagship model of a brand that offers plenty of horological bang for your buck. Despite retailing for a very accessible price of $3,240, each of these timepieces bear plenty of fine-watchmaking details: These include fir-tree hands, a specially knurled crown, transferred numerals, a snailed seconds counter at 6 o’clock and a leather strap with a contrasting leather lining.
Here is something pretty spectacular for Zenith fans who like the Defy 21 — the brand’s 1/100-of-a-second chronograph watch — as much as they like bold colours: the eight-piece Defy 21 Ultra Colour box set.
Cased in matte titanium, the 44mm skeletonised watches are available in eight colours — black, blue, violet, orange, pink, green, turquoise and khaki. Visible through the open dial, one of these hues is applied to the bridges and the rotor of each watch, which has a cordura-effect rubber strap to match. The box itself is made from an iridescent acrylic that highlights the Ultra Colour theme. Eight sets will be available.