Blue Blood

Hublot and Sang Bleu merge the arts of tattoo design and watchmaking into something extremely covetable

- By Brandon Friederich

Sang Bleu is best known as the unifying brand behind a pair of sought-after tattoo studios located in London and Los Angeles. Hublot, founded in Switzerland nearly 45 years ago, has grown into one of the world’s most recognizable luxury watch brands, as much a symbol of wealth and achievement as it is of highly innovative watchmaking. Sang Bleu and Hublot, which just jointly released a trio of special-edition Spirit of Big Bang watches, wouldn’t seem to be likely or natural collaborators at a glance.

Except that Sang Bleu is much more than a pair of tattoo shops. It’s true that its founder, Maxime Plescia-Buchi, is something of a celebrity tattooer whose list of clients includes superstar musicians Kanye West, FKA Twigs and Adam Lambert, as well perennially hip fashion designer Rick Owens. But Plescia-Buchi’s interests and resume are vast. In his 20s, he earned bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Graphic Design and apprenticed under renowned Swiss tattoo artist Filip Leu while living in his native Lausanne, Switzerland. He then moved to Paris and worked at various design agencies before relocating once again to London in the mid-2000s, at which point Sang Bleu was founded—not as a tattoo shop but as a magazine.