When Hublot launches a new timepiece, you pay attention. When Hublot launches a new wristwatch with American visual artist Daniel Arsham, you show up. And that’s exactly what we did on a rainy Thursday morning, alongside global press from New York to New Mexico.

Unveiled at a press conference within the East India Room of Raffles Hotel Singapore, the MP-17 Arsham Splash marks the second collaboration between Hublot and Daniel—and his first wristwatch design for the Swiss luxury watchmaker. Inspired by the fluidity and ephemeral nature of water, the timepiece features a 42mm case, a splash-shaped dial opening, and bespoke transparent sapphire components that reveal Hublot’s signature Meca-10 movement. The result is a sculptural, almost otherworldly object that bridges Arsham’s artistic sensibility with Hublot’s technical mastery.

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While we weren’t exactly sure what to expect, we were not disappointed. After all, this is the man who dreamed up a 30-metre-wide sundial titled “Light & Time” and installed it near the Matterhorn in Zermatt—only for it to melt away a few days later, heralding his collaboration with Hublot back in 2023.

“It was a huge artwork that was about time and impermanence. And I think that was a beautiful introduction to our collaboration, which now includes two timekeeping devices that are quite unusual,” Daniel reflects during the press conference with Hublot CEO Julien Tornare.

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Indeed, his first partnership with the brand wasn’t for a conventional wristwatch but a pocket watch—a seemingly obsolete object in the age of smart devices. “It’s a bit of a ridiculous object to make today, right? But it’s really a study in possibilities,” Daniel says.

Several sketches, nervous laughter and prototypes later, the MP-16 Arsham Droplet was born. The timepiece’s striking construction combines a titanium case, sapphire crystal and rubber bumpers, wrapped in a distinctive droplet silhouette that showcases its mechanical ingenuity. Two titanium chains lend versatility to how it’s worn, while a 10-day power reserve ensures complete freedom of movement.

While both Julien and watch collectors credit Daniel's genius for this first-of-its-kind creation, the 45-year-old New Yorker is quick to acknowledge the brand’s pivotal role. “None of this would’ve been possible without Hublot’s expertise and their tolerance for failure,” he notes.

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It’s this same spirit of exploring possibilities within the confines of traditional watchmaking that has once again culminated in a bold new creation. Where the MP-16 Arsham Droplet reimagined a pocket watch as a fluid, wearable sculpture, the MP-17 Arsham Splash takes that same conceptual language to the wrist, transforming a fleeting moment, a splash of water, into a mechanical marvel.

For Daniel, the challenge lay in reimagining the Droplet’s poetic form as a wristwatch without losing its conceptual DNA. “When I was translating that into the wristwatch, I still wanted to keep this idea of asymmetry,” he explains. “Everything in watchmaking is very mechanical and symmetry-driven, especially when it comes to the visual display. So creating something that has an asymmetry while still maintaining all of the visual qualities needed to read time and understand the power reserve took a lot of trial and error.”

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The development process, he shares, spanned nearly two years and involved multiple iterations. “We did a number of tests where I made studies of different shapes that we 3D-printed. We could live with them on the wrist and feel. As Julien mentioned, I also want the thing to be functional. It was a two-year process to get it right.”

For Daniel, what sets this partnership apart isn’t just Hublot’s technical mastery, it’s their shared appetite for risk. “One of the really interesting things about visiting the factory is seeing the amount of failure that happens in the production process,” he says. “Not waste, but the sheer number of times they have to try something before it becomes a finished product.”

Working with sapphire, for instance, is notoriously difficult. “Especially on the pocket watch, the scale of that sapphire was quite unique. It required a much bigger piece to mill from, which meant a higher failure rate. So there’s a kind of willingness you need with a partner; to fail that much, to keep experimenting.”

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That spirit of experimentation extended to the MP-17 as well. While developing the watch, Daniel noticed an unexpected detail on one of the prototypes. “The matte quality you see on the face of the watch was actually on the backside of the sample. They were showing me the glossy side, and I said, ‘What’s the backside of this—can we use that?’” It turned out to be the unpolished rear of the glass, something that had never been used commercially before. “It’s like finding something that’s been sitting on someone’s desk for 10 years and seeing new potential in it.”

This quiet insistence on pushing what already exists, as well as embracing failure as part of creation, is perhaps the most defining element of Daniel’s ongoing collaboration with Hublot.

Limited to only 99 pieces worldwide, the Hublot MP-17 Meca-10 Arsham Splash Titanium Sapphire is available at Hublot boutiques and authorised retailers.