UNION OF LEATHER AND TITANIUM

Two crafts in the LVMH group, based on leather goods and watchmaking, have come together to create an original, ocean-blue watch, available in just 250 pieces.

The famous boot/leather goods maker Berluti, founded in Paris in 1895 and part of the LVMH group since 1993, has been identified with prestige and creativity for 123 years now. But it had a particularly fruitful period in the 1980s, when Olga Berluti designed the Venezia, a full-grain calf leather made with an exclusive tanning and buffing process that produces the same effect as Japanese lacquer. The result is as supple, fine and glossy as silk. This living material is also made in a “Venezia Scritto” version, engraved with calligraphic writing, and now a signature element of the shoemakers’ style. The feature prompted Hublot, another LVMH brand, to design a limited edition of 250 pieces: the Classic Fusion Chronograph Berluti Scritto Ocean Blue.

As its name implies, the watch features the deep blue colour of the oceans on the leather medallion adorning the dial and on the two parts of the strap. The embossed hour markers appear discreetly so as not to spoil the overall effect, especially of the calligraphic inscriptions. Two wide, silvered hands show the hours and minutes in the centre, while the seconds are displayed at 3 o’clock in one of the hollow, blue-lacquered counters. With the stylised H for Hublot at its tip, a large hand counts down the seconds on the chronograph, which are then totted up in the minute totaliser at 9 o’clock.

At the heart of the 45mm-wide case of the Classic Fusion Chronograph Berluti Scritto Ocean Blue is the calibre HUB1143, a self-winding movement driving the different features and providing 42 hours of power reserve.

Price: 14,900 CHF www.hublot.com

By Sharmila Bertin