This year in Miami, the latest edition of the Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon SR_A by Samuel Ross debuts. The new watch design is part of an ongoing collaboration between the artist and the watchmaker. Redefined materials and new color variations in blue characterize this latest Big Bang model, featuring a signature honeycomb lattice from Ross, a two-tone bezel finish, and a flexible rubber strap in dark blue.
“By reflecting on how to use the latest technology to offer a contemporary vision of watchmaking that focuses on people, surprises them with original details, and brings a smile to their face, we are trying to create a design that speaks a universal language that is both elegant and simple to understand. I look forward to continuing to work alongside Hublot Manufacture and its teams,” said Ross in a statement.
Whitewaller spoke with Ross, the Hublot ambassador, about the process of designing at this scale, experimenting with materials, and the preciousness of time.
Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon SR_A. Courtesy of Hublot and Samuel Ross.
WHITEWALLER: You have been connected to Hublot since 2019, being awarded the Hublot Design Prize, and then as an ambassador in 2020. What made you initially connect with the watchmaker?
SAMUEL ROSS: What really excited me about connecting with Hublot was this focus on industrial beauty, which comes through in the way they propose new materials that you wouldn’t typically see within luxury watchmaking. With this connection to the industrial, to material development, to texture, to aesthetics, they seem to have such a freedom, and I felt as though I had something to contribute to that space.
WW: What was it like to design your first watch with Hublot in 2022? Where did you begin?
SR: I’m super old-school. I began with pen and pencil, chalk, and clay. I started thinking about the right way to contort shape and to create something which felt new and streamlined for the Hublot portfolio and something that felt light. The only way to do that was to etch from hand and work with the Hublot engineers.
Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon SR_A. Courtesy of Hublot and Samuel Ross.
WW: A focus on quality materials and innovation is something you’ve said you share with Hublot. What materials were you drawn to for that first Big Bang Tourbillon?
SR: For each of the editions we’ve developed, it hasn’t just been a change in color. It’s not just been a different luminescent paint that we’re using. There’s always been a change to the actual structure and hardware and the tooling. For option two we reduced the amount of rubber which encased the watch and we went for far more titanium, which was brushed, and we offered two to three more straps. Option three is the first time we’ve brought in a beautiful finish on carbon fiber, and we spent time making sure that the tonality and depth are there without losing the lightness of the watch. You have new carbon fiber coming into play, and you have a completely new clasp design.
Photo by Shaun Severi.
WW: Can you tell us about the role color plays in your work?
SR: Color is magnetic. It’s emotive, and it continues to excite me how you can use it in such gestural ways. We’re using these different hues and octaves and temperatures of blues. There is always this sense of play, but there is also this underpinning system of pendulum swings between the micro and macro that I try to bring into my use of color.
WW: What is your relationship to time as an artist and designer?
SR: There’s never enough time. My relationship to time is difficult. It’s the most precious commodity, as we all know, and there is never enough of it, and there is no higher goal than trying to create time.
Courtesy of Samuel Ross and Hublot.
