Earlier this week a crowd gathered at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York watched as a duo of acrobatic dancers descended from the rooftop above the new Hublot boutique (the second Hublot boutique in the city) and danced across the façade of the neighboring Louis Vuitton building. The promotional pair eventually reached the ground to present famed Olympic runner and Hublot ambassador Usain Bolt with his newest limited edition watch, just in time for the upcoming Games in Pelé’s native Brazil this summer.
After the dynamic dance routine, Peter Marino, architect of both the building and the boutique, cut the ribbon, along with Pelé, Usain Bolt, and Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe.
The new space at 743 Fifth Avenue (between 57th and 58th streets in the center of Manhattan) is the latest in the long collaboration between Marino and Hublot, which began in 2010 with Marino’s design for the flagship in Place Vendome, Paris, the first of the five boutiques that followed. The boutique’s design exhibits the brand’s Art of Fusion concept.
Inside the boutique, guests were given a chance to view Hublot’s newest timepiece, the Big Bang UNICO Usain Bolt, designed in collaboration with Bolt. The piece – interpreted in both a bold yellow gold version and a ceramic version edition – features a masculine and sporty design with gold and green hues, a nod to Usain Bolt’s signature colors, and a strap embossed with the Jamaican flag to pay tribute to Bolt’s home country.
Hublot’s in-house UNICO movement with flyback chronograph powers the timepiece, which has Bolt’s signature “lightning bolt” as its second hand. Each piece will be offered on a limited edition basis.
