Wild Customs. Hublot. Rock, guitars and watches – fused together by Laurent Picciotto. Their joint creation: the Classic Fusion Wild Customs. A watch that uses iconography to tell the story of rock’n’roll, and symbolises the revolution the independent guitar maker is about to unleash on the music world with the Gyrock – an innovative mechanism designed by Laurent Picciotto. In aged titanium or bronze, the Classic Fusion Wild Customs is the very embodiment of chutzpah and innovation. A love affair between watchmaking and music.
Everybody knows Laurent and his passion for exquisite machines – watches,
electric guitars, motorbikes… Ardent, original, innovative and surprising, he
is a key player in the watchmaking world. Often the first to see the magic in
off-the-wall projects, he is unique and different. It was with him that
we opened the world’s first Hublot boutique at 271, Rue Saint- Honoré 75001,
Paris. By coincidence, Wild Customs and Hublot Saint-Honoré, of which he is the
owner, both came into being in 2008. So when we were designing a watch for
Hublot Paris Saint-Honoré, we were immediately taken with his idea to create a
watch as Wild as his guitars.– Ricardo Guadalupe CEO of HUBLOT
Hublot and Wild Customs – two adventures I have been following since they began, and that share the same depth of passion and rock’n’roll attitude. Their passions run parallel in many ways: expertise, mechanical brilliance, emotion and fearless innovation, time and time again.
– Laurent Picciotto, Founder of Chronopassion and Boutique Hublot
Paris Saint-Honoré, Owner of Wild Customs
As the world’s first Hublot boutique opened at 271, Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris,
the City of Light was awakening to the sound of Wild Customs electric guitars –
instruments conceived at the place where the boldest expressions of
craftsmanship, jewellery making and industrial design come together. The point
of fusion of these two worlds is Laurent Picciotto, a passionate, adventurous
collector and lover of fine watches and electric guitars. His pioneering spirit
awakened an affinity with Hublot from the moment the Big Bang was conceived,
and also propelled him into the Wild Customs adventure, where his goal is to
revolutionise the electric guitar industry.
Together, they have created the Classic Fusion Wild Customs, a watch that
showcases the distinctive design and creative force that drives them. A wild,
rock’n’roll spirit that inspires them to innovate ever further by designing brand
new materials and revolutionary mechanisms. The Swiss watch brand has obtained
several patents for its products: scratch-resistant Magic Gold, coloured
ceramics and sapphire crystals and its Unico, Meca-10 and Tourbillon
manufacture movements. Wild Customs will unveil the Gyrock, its patented
mechanism designed to revolutionise the use of pickups on an electric guitar,
in Nashville this July.
Rock’n’roll, Innovation and the Avant Garde
The body of its 45-mm case is cut from blackened bronze or aged titanium in
tribute to the “relic” technique employed by luthiers. Engraved on
the bezel, stylised skulls – a classic emblem of rock music – alternate with an
Art Deco pattern that adorns the watch from case to dial. An homage to the
avant-garde spirit and the industrialisation of the early twentieth century,
inspired by the famous Empire State Building and its magnificent hall. Exuding
the energy of rock music, the lightning seconds hand in surf green celebrates
the pioneering spirit of the 1950s and 1960s – the golden age of the electric
guitar – and its unrivalled creativity. The watch is driven by a self-winding
mechanical movement. Featuring a strap in brown vintage leather or black
leather stitched onto rubber, the Classic Fusion Wild Customs is available in a
limited edition of 2×100 numbered pieces, accompanied by a plectrum in
blackened bronze and aged titanium and an exclusive presentation case inspired
by the two brands.
The Classic Fusion Wild Customs is available exclusively from the Hublot Boutique
at 271 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris until the end of July, and from other partner
boutiques from August.