Since 2011, Hublot has collaborated with a variety of artists on a series of special edition watches. Today Hublot unveiled Leonard Iheagwam as its latest artistic partner. Also known as Soldier, the Lagos-born, London-based artist left home at sixteen to pursue art and skateboarding. Eventually co-founding the Lagos collective Motherlan and exhibiting his work at London’s Saatchi Gallery. The moniker Solider was a defiant choice. In Nigeria, civilians are legally restricted from wearing military camouflage. Leonard Iheagwam reclaimed the pattern and made it his own.
Two years in the making, Iheagwam worked closely with Hublot’s design team to create the Big Bang Soldier All Black. Every element of the 42mm watch is black, differentiated only by texture. The case and bezel are executed in micro-blasted and polished black ceramic. This contrast creates an interplay between matte and gloss. And helps to define the toy soldier figures decorating the bezel, dial and sub-dials. Hublot’s self-winding HUB1280 Unico chronograph calibre powers the watch. Visible through the sapphire crystal case-back, the in-house movement boasts a 72 hour power reserve. Floating above the movement, the back features the co-ordinates of Hublot’s London boutique, where this collaboration began.
Color comes into play only on the strap, the way Soldier intended. The Big Bang Soldier All Black is delivered on a black fabric strap accompanied by two additional rubber straps lined in red and in green. In a book Soldier produced in 2024, surveying paintings, sculptures and conversations from 2018 to the present, red stood for the present and green for the past. Limited to just 50 pieces.
Big Bang Soldier All Black (£22,900/$30,700) – hublot.com
