In keeping with Hublot’s defining philosophy, ‘the art of fusion’, the nonconformist Swiss watchmaking brand has a history of reaching out to well-known designers and artists working in different spheres to collaborate on its timepieces. Partnerships with design luminaries including Flavio Manzoni, Ferrari’s design head, sculptor Richard Orlinski and renowned tattoo artist Maxime Plescia-Buchi have produced watches that fuse the skills and creative expertise of watchmakers and designers, creating unique pieces.

Most recently, Hublot paired with the pioneering fashion designer and master tailor, Yohji Yamamoto. Deploying Japanese design aesthetics, he shook up the world of tailoring and fashion with his avant-garde, directional spin and cutting-edge style. Yamamoto is also renowned for his love of the colour black – as expressed when he and Comme des Garçon’s Rei Kawakubo arrived on the Paris fashion scene in the 1980s and introduced ‘the Black Shock’, unravelling preconceptions, breaking taboos and revolutionising fashion in the process.

The result of the collaboration is the Big Bang GMT All Black Yohji Yamamoto, featuring a GMT mechanism enabling a second time zone to be instantly updated, and, of course, it’s completely black, from its micro-blasted case of black ceramic to its smoked crystal sapphire. It’s a stealth timepiece celebrating the trailblazer’s black design signature. Launched at the opening of a new flagship Hublot store in Ginza, Tokyo, the watch is a limited edition of just 50 pieces, available at the store.

However, there’s no stopping the forward-facing Hublot, and another artist collaboration has recently been released. Marc Ferrero, who has been dubbed ‘the master of storytelling art’, has worked with Hublot on a second collaboration which features Ferrero’s emblematic work ‘Lipstick’ on the dial of the Big Bang One Click 39mm. Stepping away from his typically colourful palette, this time the tale is told in black and white – with the exception of a pair of vivid red lips – described by the artist as a tribute to the 21st-century woman. Available in two limited edition numbered models in a run of 100 pieces, this artwork is as wearable as it is collectable. £16,000 in black, £15,200 in white; hublot.com