Hublot has named Jeff Koons its newest ambassador, uniting one of contemporary art’s most discussed figures with one of watchmaking’s most daring houses. Beside the maison’s famous allies from music and sport, Jung Kook and Kylian Mbappé among them, the pairing might at first appear unexpected. Yet anyone who has studied a Big Bang and then turned to Balloon Dog will recognise the kinship at once.
Koons made his name transforming the inflatable and the everyday into monuments of polished steel, and is the artist behind the most expensive steel rabbit ever sold. Hublot built its reputation on the art of fusion, beginning with the then radical idea of setting gold against rubber. Both emerged in the 1980s, both have long resisted the tidy boundaries of their respective worlds, and both create things that are impossible to overlook. Seen that way, the partnership feels less like a leap than a natural meeting point.
Hublot’s dialogue with artists stretches back to 2011, taking in Takashi Murakami, Daniel Arsham and Samuel Ross. Still, “few artists have transformed contemporary culture in the way that Jeff Koons has done,” says Julien Tornare, CEO of Hublot. Koons, for his part, points to a shared preoccupation. “Hublot and I have always shared a fascination for the material sciences,” he says. “As an artist, I always want to be able to try to transcend an object, a material, into having the viewer be able to find more meaning in the finished work than just its individual parts.”
The first fruit of the partnership brings Koons’ most recognisable motif to the wrist. Balloon Dog is about as famous as contemporary art gets, with one example selling at Christie’s for more than $58 million, so a miniature was always the obvious destination. Hublot has reshaped the Classic Fusion into soft domes and convex curves, a watch that appears to have been gently filled with air. Even the H-shaped titanium screws have been given volume, and apart from the date disc, there is scarcely a flat surface to be found.
The crown takes the form of a balloon’s knot, finished in soft-touch rubber for easy winding and setting, while a small rubber tail emerges at around half past ten. On the seconds hand rides a miniature Balloon Dog. The collection comes in candy-bright red and blue anodised aluminium, faithful to the palette of Koons’ sculptures, alongside a silver steel edition with a mirror shine worthy of the originals. The rubber strap cradles a padded insert with an almost upholstered quality. Inside, the HUB1710 automatic calibre beats at 4Hz with a 50-hour power reserve, which comfortably outlasts any balloon.
Each watch arrives in a presentation box crowned with its own chrome Balloon Dog. Limited to 200 pieces per edition, the collection is available through selected art galleries and Hublot boutiques, and is unlikely to linger for long.
