Each year, Art Basel Miami is the place to be if you want to see unlikely, unexpected art collaborations, be they between artists from different disciplines, to fashion and art, or music and art, or even art and yachting.
One of the highlights of the 2019 edition was the unveiling of the latest collaboration between watchmaker Hublot and the late Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez. A true study in ever-evolving color, it shows that watchmaking and the arts have more in common than we might be temped to think.
Cruz-Diez was a pioneer of the ‘60 Op Art movement, short for optical art, the study of movement created by a static image. He studied color and kinetic energy, and argued that, despite our common perception, color was not static but ever-changing, evolving according to the context in which it’s being looked at.
“Color,” he once said, “evolves continuously in time and space. Color is light, time, and space. Color is not in the past; it is a continuous present.”
Cruz-Diez died earlier in 2019 at 95, after a successful 70+-year career that saw him travel the world, working with other artists and continuously working to expand on his theory on color. He first partnered with Hublot in 2015, and the latest timepiece to bear his name on the backcase will be his last. The unveiling took place in the presence of Cruz-Diez’s family’s, with Hublot saying that it is the most fitting occasion to honor the artist.
Photo: Hublot
The timepiece in question, Classic Fusion Cruz-Diez, is based on the Hublot Classic Fusion, with the caliber movement MHUB1100. The dial features an interpretation of the artist’s famous 1964 work Chronointerference, transposed by Hublot onto a medium it’s never been represented before.
Cruz-Diez was able to create the impression of movement by using dark lines and Pantone colors, in what he called the moiré effect. With Hublot’s team of watch builders, Chronointerference is turned into actual living, ever-changing color. The result is outstanding: a watch that changes colors and patterns with every second and every tick.
“A working piece of art that can be worn on the wrist,” Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe says of it.
The changes are not observable if you stare continuously at the watch, but become apparent if you check on it every once in a while. Hublot accomplished this by using 2 unique discs that move independently in conjunction with time: the hour hand sits on the top one, while the minute hand on the bottom disc. As the day progresses, the dial changes completely because the patterns shift.
Photo: Hublot
“We are very excited to present this project. It is the culmination of developments made since our first collaboration with Carlos Cruz-Diez in 2015, and a tribute to his work,” Guadalupe says. “Kinetic art is a disruptive art form that places the spectator’s perception at the center of the piece in order to question the purpose and status of a work of art.”
Given Cruz-Diez’s belief that color is continuous present, it’s only fitting that one of his most famous works be used to make horology cross over into the realm of visual arts.
The Hublot Cruz-Diez comes in 2 case sizes (45mm and 38mm) and 3 materials (titanium, black ceramic and King Gold). Any option can be fitted with a black rubber and calfskin leather strap, including one dyed in Cruz-Diez colors, black, green and blue. Each item will bear the artist’s metallic signature on the caseback.
Only 300 pieces of this timepiece will be made: 125 in titanium, 50 in King Gold and 125 in black ceramic. Pricing starts at $9,300 and goes up to $25,300, with availability in Hublot boutiques. Hublot stresses that, while a piece of art, the Classic Fusion Crus-Diez is “very much designed to be worn.”
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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