Hublot and Daniel Arsham Make a Splash with Time Turned to Liquid Art
A sculptural fusion of art and horology, Hublot’s MP-17 Meca-10 Arsham Splash captures time in motion through fluid design and transparency.
Hublot’s newest collaboration with New York-based artist Daniel Arsham reaffirms why the Manufacture remains one of the most forward-looking names in contemporary watchmaking.
Unveiled in Singapore, the MP-17 Meca-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire is not a watch designed to fit within convention, but one that asks how far the relationship between sculpture and mechanics can be taken.
Hublot MP-17 Meca-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire. Credit: Hublot
This is the first wristwatch designed by Arsham, and it continues the dialogue he began with the MP-16 Arsham Droplet, the transformable pocket watch introduced last year.
Where that piece captured the quiet perfection of a water droplet, the MP-17 expands the metaphor into movement; a splash frozen at its point of impact.
The 42-millimetre titanium case takes on an organic form rarely seen in traditional watchmaking. Its contours feel fluid rather than engineered, softened further by a frosted box-shaped sapphire bezel that seems to dissolve into the dial.
The splash-shaped aperture at the centre exposes Hublot’s in-house HUB1205 Meca-10 manual-winding calibre; a movement revered for its architecture as much as its 10-day power reserve.
Viewed through the dial and the sapphire caseback, the skeletonised bridges and grey PVD finishing add a visual rhythm that complements Arsham’s aesthetic language.
The design is resolved with his signature green Super-LumiNova accents, which illuminate the numerals, hour markers, and power reserve indicator, creating a subtle chromatic link to his wider artistic universe.
Arsham’s work often explores the tension between permanence and decay, between what is contemporary and what will one day be relic.
His approach to time aligns naturally with watchmaking’s preoccupation with endurance.
In this collaboration, the concept of “fictional archaeology”, imagining future discoveries of present-day objects, takes tangible form.
Julien Tornare, Hublot’s Chief Executive, describes the MP-17 as “a discovery of new design and perception”, noting that it exemplifies the brand’s Art of Fusion philosophy; the seamless blending of art, engineering, and experimentation.
For Arsham, the watch is “an exploration of the fluidity of time”, its geometry drawn from the moment a droplet becomes a wave.
Hublot MP-17 Meca-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire. Credit: Hublot
Despite its sculptural presence, the MP-17 remains distinctly wearable. Its compact proportions and 15.35-millimetre profile give it balance on the wrist, while the titanium deployant buckle ensures a secure fit.
The strap, in black rubber embossed with Arsham’s monogram, adds both texture and familiarity; a reminder that even the most avant-garde designs benefit from tactile precision.
The Meca-10 calibre inside the MP-17 is one of Hublot’s most distinctive movements, comprising 264 components and 29 jewels.
The result is a piece that feels alive through its mechanical transparency yet grounded in the brand’s technical mastery.
Limited to just ninety-nine examples worldwide, the MP-17 Meca-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire is positioned at approximately £57,000.
It stands as a meeting point between disciplines: art that measures time, and watchmaking that interprets it.
For collectors who value design narrative as much as specification, it represents the evolving identity of modern horology, one that acknowledges tradition but refuses to be defined by it. In Arsham’s hands, time becomes not only observed but sculpted.
