Having created his latest watch with Hublot, the Big Bang Unico SR_A, Samuel Ross reflects on a partnership devoted to expanding the limits of horological design
Samuel Ross doesn’t ever switch off. “I’m interested in a full 24-hour cycle of our relationship to material, shape, and design. It’s become this process of having a perspective on every facet of the lives that we live,” he says, by way of explaining his approach to industrial design.
The celebrated British artist and designer, who started the influential fashion label A-COLD-WALL* (ACW), and now helms the industrial design studio SR_A, has always been at the tip of the spear of contemporary creative culture. And he sure didn’t come into this position without an obsession with design that, in his world, has melted into everyday living—where every visual and tactile interaction becomes a means for creative exploration and adventure.
“Every engagement that I have with an object, a fibre, or a material, regardless of its size or scale, is of interest to me,” he adds. “It could be a piece of garment. An artwork, a toothbrush, or a watch.”
Ross’ gentle way of speaking feels incongruous with the intensity of his ruminations. It even disarms you. But when one considers his works, whether a kimono-inspired quilted jacket for SR_A’s collaboration with Zara or, in this instance, the latest in an evolutionary series of limited edition Hublot watches, there is no mistaking his desire to take the virtues of design to their farthest, most forward-thinking extremes.
Utilitarian and Endearing
The Hublot Big Bang Unico SR_A is the fourth watch that Ross has designed for the Swiss watch brand since their first collaboration in 2020. Like the previous watches, the Big Bang Unico SR_A is a monochromatic kinetic sculpture fashioned of undulating curves, matte and polished surfaces, and bold, industrial shapes that look familiar yet abstract.
But unlike previous editions, which were built as tourbillons, the Big Bang Unico SR_A is created with Hublot’s Unico chronograph movement as a base. Limited to 200 pieces, the watch is the “most accessible” Hublot and Ross creation yet, given that the earlier editions are limited to 50 pieces each.
“This is a deeply utilitarian and endearing watch,” says Ross. “I want to express this sense of comfort, adventure, and exploration that the chronograph is associated with. At the same time, we also wanted to explore this collaboration with a fresh perspective and new materials without losing our foundational signatures.”
And that’s the thing with a Samuel Ross designed Hublot watch. As much as the watch brand’s aesthetic hallmarks are very forthright and pronounced—you can tell a Hublot watch from its heft and shape at five paces away—the Big Bang SR_A watches are just as distinctive.
The watches’ protruding side lugs, multi-layered case construction, and juxtaposition of different shapes as well as its signature honeycomb shaped motifs make them unmistakable. Even though the Hublot Big Bang Unico SR_A differs from its colourful, titanium-clad predecessors with its monochromatic sheen, and its steel and ceramic construction, it is an unambiguously Samuel Ross and Hublot lovechild.
“All designers and artists need patrons that can help them realise ideas that will determine the future. The great thing about my relationship with Hublot is that it isn’t one way—it’s quite symbiotic and human. It is clear to see the authenticity and the continuity between the partnership and that growth cycle. With each chapter that I unlock, Hublot and the watch seem to come alongside that,” says Ross.
It helps, too, that Ross enjoys watches himself—particularly chronographs and sports watches. “For sure, this love for watches has filtered into what I do with Hublot. In fact, whether with watchmaking, automobiles, or any facet of industrial design, it is one and the same. I consume as I design. It is impossible to fake stuff like that.”
