Musings on the passage of time

American visual artist Daniel Arsham makes waves with second Hublot watch collaboration

- Yamini Chinnuswamy Correspondent

American contemporary visual artist Daniel Arsham has an extensive portfolio of work that defies easy categorisation. But a frequently recurring theme appears to be time.

It makes sense, then, that his latest design is a luxury timepiece for Swiss watch brand Hublot: the Hublot MP-17 Meca-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire ($96,800). The 42mm wristwatch, which is limited to 99 pieces, is available at Hublot boutiques and The Hour Glass boutiques.

The Splash is the second creation from the Arsham-Hublot partnership. The first was the Arsham Droplet pocket watch, released in 2024.

There is a Singapore connection in the genesis of this collaboration, as it was Mr Michael Tay - the group managing director of Singapore-based luxury watch retailer The Hour Glass who connected the two parties.

“His thinking was: There’s so much reference to time in my work, it would be a natural progression for me to design a watch,” says Arsham, 45, during group and individual interviews in early October at Raffles Hotel. He was in town to launch the watch.

“I’m interested in interrogating our perception of time where we fit within it, how we look at how we catalogue it,” he adds.

One striking example of his artistic meditations on time can be found in his 2023 collection of work inspired by the Star Wars space opera franchise (1977 to present).