Hublot brings Berluti leather to limited edition timepieces at Baselworld 2016

The Swiss watchmaker has partnered with the luxury footwear firm to present two "Classic Fusion" watches, combining Berluti's iconic Venezia leather with the watchmaking expertise of Hublot. The two exceptional, limited edition timepieces were presented at the Baselworld watch and jewelry fair, which runs March 17-24 in Basel, Switzerland.

In two distinctly sophisticated models, Hublot's new "Classic Fusion" timepieces give pride of place to Berluti's Venezia leather, the fruit of an exclusive tanning process giving the material a complex yet delicately unique effect. This luxurious material is brought to dials and straps of "Classic Fusion Berluti" watches.

After original designs using denim and lace, Hublot set out to explore other iconic materials for watch dials and straps. "Leather is a standard material in watchmaking for straps," said Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot's CEO. "But we wanted to go beyond the traditional approach to leather and work with the most emblematic leather there is. Working with Berluti was a natural choice."

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While leather is often used for making straps, bringing this material to a watch dial proved considerably more complicated, especially when sealing it in a water-resistant case, as for the "Classic Fusion."

The result is a pair of sophisticated men's timepieces. The "Classic Fusion Berluti All Black" has an intense black finish and comes with a handmade strap in nero grigio Venezia leather, a 45mm black ceramic case and a Berluti nero grigio leather dial. The "Classic Fusion Berluti Scritto" has an engraved Venezia Scritto calfskin strap in Tobacco Bis, a shade also brought to the dial alongside Hublot's iconic 18-karat King Gold. The "All Black" model will be limited to 500 pieces whereas the "Scritto" will be limited to just 250.

The two partners underline that the watch straps are made using the same procedure used to produce leather for Berluti shoes -- from modeling and lacquering to shaping and cutting -- making them exclusive pieces.

The watches use the Hublot HUB1100 caliber, a self-winding mechanical movement, and have hours, minutes and seconds functions. They come with a 42-hour power reserve.