Cover From left: Hublot ambassador Lang Lang and artist Chen Fenwan (Photos: courtesy of Hublot)
From left: Hublot ambassador Lang Lang and artist Chen Fenwan (Photos: courtesy of Hublot)
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Lang Lang and Chen Fenwan, two veterans in the arts world, find a new understanding of creativity and precision in Hublot’s dragon watch project
You may not think the worlds of music, visual art and watchmaking have a direct correlation. But Guangzhou paper-cutting artist Chen Fenwan begs to differ. “Often, the way artists think and create is to form a bridge between things that have no connections at all,” she says.
In January this year, when Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot invited her to design an artwork for its Spirit of Big Bang Titanium Dragon, a limited-edition timepiece celebrating the Year of the Dragon, Chen—who is known for Infinite, her ongoing paper art installation in the shape of a giant dragon, started in 2018—enthusiastically took on the challenge.
“My immediate thought was that both a watch and a dragon are basically a line,” she says. The timepiece is modelled after a vibrantly coloured eastern dragon: its body becomes the watch’s rubber strap with a marquetry design of dragon scales. The dial becomes the head, with H-shaped screws representing the eyes and the hands the horns. Inside the dial, the hands, cogs and screws suggest a silhouette of the creature’s head.
Above Spirit of Big Bang Titanium Dragon (Photo: courtesy of Hublot)
Spirit of Big Bang Titanium Dragon (Photo: courtesy of Hublot)
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When the watch was launched on January 8, Hublot threw a party attended by guests including Chinese piano superstar and brand ambassador Lang Lang; Chen; Chinese actor Lin Gengxin and Hong Kong actress Janice Man, who were both born in the Year of the Dragon; and Omar Choudhary, the brand’s managing director, Greater China. The party culminated in a lighting ceremony in the evening, where those guests lit the eyes of another of Chen’s dragon installations, a five-metre-wide, three-metre-tall, 5.5-metre-long piece.
“The dragon is the only mythical creature of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. This gives me much room for imagination,” says Chen. She explains that unlike other creatures of the zodiac such as the dog or rabbit, she doesn’t have to model her designs or artworks after real animals. “The dragon’s tail can be never-ending if I want, for instance.” She feels that, through the collaboration, Hublot has given her the platform to realise her creative imagination, such as how the outdoor dragon installation has its tail extended into Shanghai Plaza 66, where Hublot’s retail store is, to create the illusion that it doesn’t have an end.
Read more: Tatler’s sneak a peek at the hottest timepieces at Watches and Wonders 2024
Above Chen's dragon installation in Shanghai (Photo: courtesy of Hublot)
Chen's dragon installation in Shanghai (Photo: courtesy of Hublot)
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The watch brand has a track record of collaborating with visual and performing artists, actors, designers and athletes: Hublot worked with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, Tatler’s March 2024 cover star, in 2021 and 2023 to create timepieces based on his smiling, anxious flower motif; in 2023, it invited American contemporary artist Daniel Arsham to design a 20-metre sundial installation in the snowscape of the Swiss mountain resort of Zermatt; in 2016, it worked with Swiss tattoo artist Maxime Plescia-Büchi to come up with a timepiece that incorporated tattoo art; that same year, it also worked with Lang Lang to come up with the Classic Fusion Tourbillon Cathedral Minute Repeater, which sounds the hour and minutes with quiet but clear cathedral bell chimes.
“Hublot is so active in supporting artist and athletes. [Chen’s Big Bang Titanium Dragon watch] blows my mind, as it brings the traditional western craft of watchmaking and traditional Chinese paper cutting together,” says Lang Lang, who has been a brand ambassador for the last eight years.
A watch collector himself since 2002, the pianist believes that a classical musician and watchmaker are similar in a lot of ways. “A watchmaker sits there for more than eight hours working on the tiny elements and putting everything together into a timepiece. You have to concentrate and [be very still]. It’s almost like you’re creating a new life,” he says. “Musicians are the same: we have to practise and be precise with millions of notes on a score sheet. You have to be completely in your world.”
Above Lin Gengxin (Photo: courtesy of Hublot)
Above Janice Man (Photo: courtesy of Hublot)
Lin Gengxin (Photo: courtesy of Hublot)
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While the watch brand set high standards for its traditional craftsmanship which it has adhered to since it was founded in 1980, it also looks into new, modern, creative possibilities that speak to 21st-century watch lovers. Lang Lang says, “[Hublot] works with the best people from their respective fields outside of watchmaking, like artists and athletes. It doesn’t just borrow these famous people’s faces for promotion; it creates incredible products [that highlight the characteristics and experiences of their worlds] with them.”
This is the element that the pianist appreciates the most about the brand. As someone who works in the arts industry, he believes that a timepiece isn’t just a functional gadget; it’s also a carrier of memories and an item that celebrates historic moments in other industries—“the Big Bang e Fifa World Cup Qatar piece in 2022, for instance, and pieces inspired by basketball games,” he says. “I love these special editions, and I truly love the way Hublot is making watches.”
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
