Among Hublot’s many partnerships, the one that has probably been most under the radar of collectors and connoisseurs is the Swiss watchmaker’s collaboration with French men’s fashion house Berluti, maker of high-end footwear and other leather goods since 1895. Nevertheless, the watches that have emerged from this four-year partnership have been uniformly gorgeous, as well as elegant departures from the brand’s mostly high-tech, sporty aesthetic. Up until now, the Hublot Berluti editions have sprung from the understated Classic Fusion collection; the latest, launched toward the end of last year and now available at retail, is the first in the series to use a more complicated piece, Hublot’s Big Bang Unico Chronograph, as its base. It’s also this week’s Watch to Watch.
Hublot Big Bang Berluti Cold Brown

To create the Big Bang Unico Berluti Cold Brown, a limited edition of 100 pieces, Hublot’s horological “masters of materials” worked closely with Berluti creative director Kris Van Assche to apply Berluti’s famous Venezia leather to the complicated timepiece in ways that had never been explored before. The dial uses a construction that encases the Ice Brown patina leather between two pieces of sapphire glass, which have also been carefully cut out to reveal the gears of the movement in the center. The natural hide of the leather has been treated to keep its surface unchanging, and “frozen in time.&#...