Berluti has collaborated with Hublot on a new timepiece, the Big Bang Unico Cold Brown. Though their Berluti-Hublot partnership has been in place for 4 years, this marks the first time that they’ve introduced a version on the 45mm Big Bang Unico chronograph fitted with the MHUB1242 calibre with a 72-hour power reserve.

For this collaborative effort, the House’s iconic Venezia leather has been applied onto the watch’s dial. Yep, what an amazing feat this is to have leather onto the dial, because it surely is something unique that isn’t often incorporated into a watch’s design.  To do this, the leather has been sandwiched between two pieces of sapphire glass, and cut out for the first time to reveal the Unico’s movement. And, since leather is after all an organic material (i.e. animal skin), and naturally, would change in character and appearance over time (for example, the darkening of the patina depending on how the leather is treated), this method of construction by having the leather encased between the sapphire glass keeps the leather resistant to all these factors. Additionally, you’d also find the Cold Brown leather on the watch’s bezel in two parts: on the first part of the bezel, the leather is approximately 1mm thick. It is then inserted onto the lower base in black ceramic, which is then screwed onto the watch’s case. Unlike the leather on the dial, however, the bezel will take on the natural patina over time, just like the strap that comes with it, which is a fusion of patina leather and rubber.

Limited to 100 pieces worldwide, the Berluti x Hublot Big Bang Unico Cold Brown comes packaged in a chest signed by the two houses, along with a Berluti shoe horn keyring and travel case.

Images courtesy of Berluti