Hublot, Takashi Murakami Announce Fourth CollaborationHublot, Takashi Murakami Announce Fourth Collaboration

Hublot and Takashi Murakami have announced a fourth collaboration, consisting of 13 timepieces, each paired with an NFT, fusing watchmaking innovation and contemporary art featuring the artist’s smiling flower. 

“Our partnership with Takashi Murakami allows us to create a story that interlinks all the works we have released with Takashi, both digital pieces and the watches themselves,” says Ricardo Guadalupe, chief executive officer, Hublot. “Faithful to its history, Hublot is once again first, unique and different in how it rewards its collectors, providing them with privileged access to both ownership of and trade in unique artistic pieces.” 

“When my collaboration with Hublot was announced, we made it known that we would be adopting new forms of artistic expression,” says Murakami. “After creating all the timepieces together, as well as the digital works of art, we are now imagining new ways of accessing contemporary art.” 

The 12 watches, referencing the 12 hours on the dial, are each paired with a different color and linked to an NFT. The NFTs are inspired by Japanese video games and television from the 1970s and the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black, the first collaboration between the Swiss watchmaker and the artist, released in January 2021. Collectors have one year to acquire the 12 unique NFTs on the OpenSea platform. After this period, in April 2024, only the collector who has successfully purchased the 12 NFTs will be eligible to buy the 13th and most sought-after watch, the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Black Ceramic Rainbow. The watch reinterprets Takashi Murakami’s emblematic smiling flower with 12 petals forming a gradient of rubies, sapphires, amethysts, tsavorites and topaz.  

Related:Takashi Murakami Artwork Part of UNO Artiste Series

If no one can accumulate all twelve NFTs, Hublot will auction the watch to raise funds for charity. 

Recently, Licensing Global delved into watches as a fashion accessory and looked at how licensing impacts the category.