Hublot MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire 915.JX.4802.RT

A sufficient number of watches that are unique from a mechanical point of view, which were originally released for the Only Watch charity auction, eventually become the basis for watches that end up in the catalogs of their respective brands. Given the huge costs associated with creating a new mechanism or case architecture, it makes sense for brands to get some return on their investment, and as the latest addition in 2023, Hublot introduced its first commercially available watch with a central tourbillon.

The new Hublot MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire in a transparent flower-shaped case is based on the concept of this year’s Only Watch, although this latest addition to the Hublot collection is not a unique piece intended for auction. The MP-15, produced in just 50 copies, is Hublot’s first limited edition watch with a central floating tourbillon. This unusual, playful, but at the same time high-tech model offers a great interpretation of the visual effects of sapphire.

The watch is a unique interpretation of the visual effects of sapphire. The case, mechanism and dial are combined in a unique combination: the complication is located in the usual place of the dial, and the hands occupy a peripheral position. The central floating tourbillon, Hublot’s first mass—produced tourbillon, is surrounded by Takashi Murakami’s iconic motif, a 12—petaled flower made entirely of sapphire. The flower has soft curves and bold, voluminous shapes. It is designed to create absolute transparency and maximum brightness of the watch. The watch is a collector’s item and is a great achievement of Hublot.
The watch has an impressive power reserve of 150 hours, which is almost an entire week, which is an outstanding technical achievement for this type of complication.

The petals of the new Hublot MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire are made of transparent sapphire. The case measures 42 mm in diameter and 13.4 mm thick, with a clear sapphire crystal back cover and a clear sapphire crown at 3 o’clock. The water resistance is 30 meters. The idea behind this latest model was to maximize the transparency of the case. Hublot’s goal is to allow light to pass directly through the watch itself.

In the Hublot MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire, the tourbillon is mounted right in the center of the dial without an upper bridge, which gives it a floating appearance. Meanwhile, the hands are located on the periphery below it and protrude along the perimeter, indicating the time on a small track of hour markers located between the central tourbillon and the transparent sapphire petals forming the case and bezel of the watch. The convex sapphire crystal located above the central tourbillon received eyes and a mouth, making the watch resemble the face of the famous smiling floral character from the Murakami cartoon.

The HUB9015 is a hand-wound movement that Hublot created specifically to fulfill Murakami’s request for cooperation in creating a watch with a central tourbillon. The 236-component HUB9015 calibre operates at a frequency of 21,600 half-vibrations per hour (3 Hz) with a power reserve of about 150 hours. This impressive battery life is made possible by the two wind-up spring drums installed in series.

The HUB9015 caliber is a manual winding mechanism with a power reserve of almost a week. Manual winding of the watch requires 100 revolutions of the crown, and in the end it can be quite a laborious process. Consequently, Hublot includes in the MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire a special electronically wound stylus that can be charged via USB and put on the crown to wind the watch smoothly and quickly, but in a controlled manner, until the maximum tension in both cylinders of the winding spring is reached.

Hublot has developed a tourbillon without an overhead bridge. All its components are skeletonized. This makes it easy to estimate how much work was spent on the development of the MP-15 model, in which some gears and all the components of the tourbillon are visible, which seem to float in space.

However, the deeply innovative MP-15 is equipped with standard markers that allow it to be worn and read naturally and easily. Twelve white indexes are located on the flange, and the black-coated and white SuperLuminova luminescent hands guarantee perfect readability both day and night. Moreover, the modest diameter of this model (42 mm) makes it extremely comfortable to wear, not least due to the integrated rubber strap, which provides optimal comfort.

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