Hublot and Arturo Fuente Light Up a Limited Edition
Earlier this month in the Dominican Republic, Arturo Fuente and Hublot celebrated an unusual partnership to commemorate the premier cigarmaker's centennial this year. The highlight of the event was Hublot's unveiling of a limited-edition timepiece to mark the milestone and pay tribute to Fuente's coveted Fuente Fuente OpusX cigar.
The King Power Arturo Fuente features the Fuente Fuente Opus X logo at 6 o'clock on its handsome tobacco brown dial with black and red accents. The 48 mm automatic chronograph is limited to 100 pieces in the brand's proprietary King Gold ($44,700), an alloy of red gold with 5 percent platinum that projects a distinctive red hue. Hublot will produce another 200 pieces in microblasted black ceramic ($24,000). The watch's case back depicts an image of Fuente patriarch Carlos Fuente Sr. and his son Carlos Fuente Jr. along with the dates 1912-2012 to mark the cigar company's anniversary.
Cigar lovers will especially appreciate the watch's extravagant presentation box: a Macassar ebony and carbon humidor decorated with the Fuente Fuente OpusX ring paired with Hublot's logo. The box comes stocked with special-edition cigars produced for Hublot, each finished with an ornamental ring.
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In keeping with its ongoing charitable efforts, Hublot will donate $150,000 of the proceeds from sales of the King Power Arturo Fuente to the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, which was founded by the Fuente and J.C. Newman families to provide education and health care to needy children in the Dominican Republic.
The unlikely partnership between the Swiss watch manufacturer and the Dominican cigar producer is rooted in the close friendship between Hublot chairman Jean-Claude Biver, its chief executive officer Ricardo Guadalupe and Fuente chairman Carlos Fuente Sr.
The men share an enterprising, individualistic spirit. Hublot, for example, has pioneered the use of unconventional and original materials, such as magnesium, zirconium, tantalum, tungsten, Hublonium (an alloy of aluminum and magnesium), and Magic Gold (an alloy of gold and ceramic).
Fuente famously launched a daring endeavor in the 1980s to cultivate shade-grown wrapper tobacco plants in the Dominican Republic, and in the mid-1990s, Fuente became the first producer to make a premium cigar entirely from Dominican tobaccos.
