The Hublot Sledge Is Born

A new, exclusive design concept has recently been unveiled by Hublot and ECAL, the University of Art and Design, Lausanne, Switzerland: the Hublo Sledge. To be produced in a limited edition series of 10 pieces, the Hublot Sledge follows the equally impressive Hublot Skis (developed with Zai) and the Hublot All Black Bike (developed with BMC).

The prototype version was created in partnership with Graf, a company from Thurgovie, based on the "Roedel" competition model.

Praised to be fast, stable, manoeuvrable and robust, the Hublot Sledge uses ash wood for the structure, hand-sewn leather for the seat, carbon fibre for the handles and steel for the runners.

This particular piece of work was created by Philippe-Albert Lefebvre, an MAS-Luxe student from Quebec who studied in 2009/2010, based on an original concept by Arno Mathies, a Swiss student studying for the MAS-Luxe in 2008/2009, and who now studies at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London.

Jean-Claude Biver, Hublot's CEO, said he was "delighted at the creation of this sledge developed with ECAL which, in addition to its remarkable, innovative design, also offers the high levels of performance and robustness an exceptional piece of sports equipment requires!".

"By marrying the high precision so dear to Hublot with Graf's expertise and ECAL's creativity, we were able to obtain a totally unique design object," Pierre Keller, the director of ECAL, said in a release.

The Hublot Sledge will be officially on display at the Alpine World Ski Championships for which Hublot is the Official Timekeeper. Champions Bode Miller and Maria Riesch, who are also the brand's ambassadors, are likely to take it out for a test run.