Jeff Koons produces some of the most recognisable contemporary artworks of the modern era thanks to his vivid use of colour and unique approach to shape inspired by balloon animals. Last week Hublot announced their official partnership with the artist and now they are unveiling their first collaborative timepieces together. The new watches are the Hublot Classic Fusion Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons and the MP-14 Origin by Jeff Koons.
Hublot Classic Fusion Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons
The first collaboration watch really leans into Koons’ signature balloon aesthetic, as the name implies. It takes the flat, industrial-chic surfaces of the Classic Fusion and gives them a new inflated visual appearance, as if sculpted by internal air-pressure barely restrained by a taut surface. The sapphire crystal, the visible screw heads, even the dial itself feature domed, convex shapes that create the illusion of inflation despite being made from solid material. Compared to the standard 42mm Classic Fusion, the Balloon Dog edition is slightly thicker because of those new domed shapes but at 11mm instead of 10.4mm, it’s not egregious.
Aside from the inflated form, there are a few other details that sell the Balloon Animal appearance. The crown at 3 o’clock has been re-engineered in rubber-moulded aluminium to look like the knot of a balloon, which in a balloon dog serves as the animal’s nose. At 10:30 on the case there is a purely decorative and flexible protrusion that represents the dog’s tail. I do find it amusing that the implication is that the watch body is the roundest, fattest dog you have seen in your life – or at least since your Grandma’s exceedingly rotund and ancient (by God how did it live so long?) family pet passed away.
The Hublot Classic Fusion Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons is available in three colours, each with a metallic finish to match Koons’ sculptures. There is red, blue and silver. Personally, I like the intense red and blue editions more as they lean into the playfulness of the collection while the silver is more like a puffy mirror ball. Each is presented on a colour matched rubber strap with a debossed metallic leather insert featuring an inflated effect.
Powering the collection is the HUB1710 automatic movement with 50-hour power reserve. It’s equipped with a date function at 3 o’clock and central hours, minutes and seconds. That seconds hand is decorated with a balloon dog counterweight to further the collaborative elements.
For pricing and availability, each of the colours is limited to 200 pieces for 600 total and they are all priced at £19,700. That’s the exact same price as the Classic Fusion 42mm King Gold edition, so Hublot are essentially considering this artwork special edition to be equivalent to their precious metal versions. If that’s where it sits within Hublot’s own pricing, where does it sit in the context of Jeff Koons? The average price of a Jeff Koons Balloon Dog is approximately £32,000 for the smaller porcelain versions such as the Bernardaud edition and the record is $58.4 million for one of the big sculptures at auction – meaning this is an exceedingly rare situation where you can say that Hublot’s offering is a bargain.
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Hublot MP-14 Origin by Jeff Koons
While the Classic Fusion is all about an existing Hublot design getting the Koons treatment, the MP-14 Origin by Jeff Koons is a brand new watch. It’s also Hublot’s first ever automatic central tourbillon wristwatch. The futuristic case measures 44mm with an octagonal design produced in a combination of titanium and sapphire with a box-like profile and 20mm thickness containing the dramatic display inside. The integrated bracelet is made from the same materials.
The display consists of white gold, concentric rings that lead inwards to a blue-varnished sapphire dome beneath which sits the central tourbillon. Two floating, cube-shaped indicators appear to float around the display with the red marker representing hours and the grey one for minutes. The outermost ring of diamonds serves as a 60-minute scale with blue sapphires at 5-minute intervals while the ring inside of that marks the hours with blue sapphires at the cardinal points of 12/3/6/9. The visual concept is that the display represents the moment of origin when the cosmos began and time was first felt within the universe, radiating outwards into space.
A hugely significant part of this release is the movement, because it’s Hublot’s first automatic central tourbillon. Central tourbillons are notoriously difficult to produce because it involves re-engineering the architecture of the entire movement and reimagining how you tell the time when you can no longer rely on a conventional central handstack and also how to attach the automatic rotor which also normally mounted centrally. The HUB9014 consists of a whopping 594 individual components, operating at a 3 Hz frequency with a 60-hour power reserve supplied by a peripheral rotor.
The movement is controlled through a dual crown system that is integrated into the watch’s caseback. The “Energy Pulse” crown is the winding crown and the “Cosmic Align” crown is the time setting crown. When looking at the caseback you can also see a small exhibition window below which is the name of the watch and Jeff Koons’ signature. There is also an inscription marking it as a limited edition of 30 pieces.
For pricing, the Hublot MP-14 Origin by Jeff Koons is £383,000. That makes it the most expensive watch in Hublot’s Exceptional Timepieces range, beating out the £380,000 MP-10 Sapphire and the £323,000 MP-15 Takashi Murakami manual-winding central tourbillon.
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More details at Hublot.
