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AFP
Translated by
Nicola Mira
Published
Oct 7, 2016
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Tattoos are making their mark on luxury watches

By
AFP
Translated by
Nicola Mira
Published
Oct 7, 2016

Tattoos, long associated with sailors, soldiers, heavy-metal bass players, habitual criminals and other 'bad boys', are slipping away from counter-culture and, little by little, clearing themselves a path to luxury watches.


The 'Big Bang Sang Bleu' watch by Maxime Büchi for Hublot - Hublot


Hublot, one of the brands belonging to French luxury group LVMH, has recently joined forces with Swiss tattooist Maxime Büchi, to revamp one of its flagship models, set to hit directional watch stores sometime in October. This limited edition timepiece will be priced at €18,600, and will dispense with hands to tell the time. Instead, it will rely on a set of overlapping octagonal disks inspired by the geometric patterns loved by the tatoo artist known for having tattooed US rapper Kanye West.

At the beginning of September, French watch-maker Bell & Ross started sales of a square watch with a dial in the shape of a skull and crossbones , priced at €6,900). Its steel case is decorated with finely engraved flames, which are then painted in black varnish, recalling ink used by tattoo artists.

"The idea came to me after visiting the 'Tatoueurs, tatoués' (Tattoo artists, tattooed) exhibition at the Quai Branly Museum" in Paris, recalled the watch-maker's Creative Director Bruno Belamich in an interview with French news agency AFP, explaining that he wanted to recreate the word of "bikers, rockers, pirates" in a watch.

Swatch had been among the first to ride this trend four years ago, by recruiting the star of Parisian tattoo artists, Tin-Tin. The needle master, who has campaigned for years for tattoo artists to be recognized as fully-fledged artists, concocted three designs of Japanese inspiration for the famous, colourful plastic watch brand: a dragon, a snake and a carp, creating a series at the much more affordable price of €75 each.

New artistic crafts
Pioneers includes brands such as Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome, which in 2011 tapped Mo Coppoletta, an Italian tattooist based in London, to decorate its bracelets. The collaboration lead to the creation of a 25-piece limited edition watch two years later.

"The idea was to discover alternative culture elements which become culture, full stop. It was a way to use arts and crafts in a contemporary manner," explained Manuel Emch, Romain Jerome's CEO, who repeated the experience this year with French tattoo artist Loïc Lavenu, known as Xoïl.

"These watches are of course targeted to collectors, not necessarily to tattoo aficionados, but to consumers who are young, highly urban and sensitive to the message", he explained, specifying that the watches sell for €21,950 each.

Rather than collaborating with a tattoo star, Bell & Ross tried to replicate the handicraft in the manufacturing of its watches. The brand first asked a Swiss engraving studio to etch the entire surface of the watch case, the back too, concealing minuscule designs inspired by military tattoos within the tracery.

Swiss manufacturer Châtelain -- which also produces Chanel Horlogerie watches -- was then tasked with filling out the grooves by hand. The work was done with a micro-doser that distills the ink in a highly accurate fashion, under a binocular magnifier, like a dermograph, the tool used by tattoo artists to create their designs.

Asked about about these horological tributes to the profession, Philippe Aillaud, one of the co-organizers of a tattoo convention recently held in Montreux, Switzerland, offered a mixed response. 'For the artists, it is the ultimate accolade. They are no longer dirty guys tattooing other dirty guys," he said. "But if it doesn't go on the skin, it is no longer a tattoo...," decreed the purist in him.
 

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