12 October 2022

A FOUR-HANDED MICHELIN-STARRED DINNER

Yannick Alléno, Ricardo Guadalupe and Anne-Sophie Pic at the launch of the Hublot Big Bang Unico Gourmet

Damascus Steel: the material of choice for Michelin starred chefs, from their knives to their Big Bang Unico Gourmet.

Hublot’s Michelin-starred and gastronomic adventure began in 2017 with Andreas Caminada. Seven great Michelin-starred chefs have since joined the Hublot family. For the second time, Hublot is bringing them together, for a private dinner, where two of them have been given carte blanche to create a dinner that is “first, unique, different”. Four Michelin-starred hands joined together for the first time to create a menu that fuses the excellence, the style and the signature of Anne-Sophie Pic & Yannick Alléno. For a chef, their knife is their ally at all times – there is no dish without a knife – and, among the different materials used to shape these knives, Damascus steel is the most iconic. The material’s unique pattern is now reflected in the Big Bang Unico Gourmet in a limited edition of 200 pieces. The spirit of gastronomy extends to the bracelet which itself is cut from the fabric of cooking aprons. The Velcro fastener makes the watch useful and practical, and not just in the kitchen.

“At Hublot, we love high gastronomy, we love people who convey their savoir faire and their signature onto their dishes, those who know how to fuse ingredients to make them unique while staying authentic This dinner is so much more than a Michelin-starred dinner, more than symbolic, it is a pivotal moment in the history of Hublot gastronomy that sees two of the greatest chefs in the world come together to create one menu. A moment which we mark with the unique imprint of Damascus steel, this legendary steel that is also the greatest ally of chefs, from their kitchen knives to, from today, their wrists.”

RICARDO GUADALUPE

CEO HUBLOT

“In my profession, I love the fusion of ingredients that reveal new flavours through endless combinations. Experimenting with ingredients in the kitchen is an art and is comparable to handling materials in watchmaking. In giving me and Yannick Alléno carte blanche for this four-handed dinner, Hublot invites us to experiment and to express the Art of Fusion. Fusion brings together distinctive elements, here two culinary universes, two genres, two styles. A human adventure that makes our shared passions even more meaningful.”

ANNE-SOPHIE PIC

3- MICHELIN STAR CHEF AND HUBLOT AMBASSADOR

“I love terroir and modernity, opposites that attract and synergies. There are many parallels between cuisine and watchmaking, going beyond the apron that is worn by both the cook and the watchmaker, and it is one of these parallels that once again expresses itself today with the Big Bang Gourmet and this legendary Damascus steel. This steel embodies the best of the past and the future, fused to reveal this unique imprint, identical to that affixed by Anne-Sophie Pic at my side in this collaborative culinary reflection. These are the kinds of human and culinary experiences that I like. ”

YANNICK ALLÉNO

3- MICHELIN STAR CHEF AND HUBLOT AMBASSADOR

Launch of the Hublot Big Bang Gourmet at the Atelier des Lumières, Paris

Hublot Ambassadors Yannick Alléno and Anne-Sophie Pic wearing the Big Bang Unico Gourmet

Yannick Alléno & Anne-Sophie Pic

Eneko Atxa, Anne-Sophie Pic, Yannick Alléno & Paul Pairet

“I love immersive experiences involving multiple senses. Finding myself on the other side of the looking glass allows me to experience fine dining through a different lens. I loved culinary fusion through the gourmet expressions of two Michelin-starred chefs personifying the same culinary family as my own. I loved discovering the multi-sensory nature of Damascus steel knife blades in a watch. Hublot truly embodies the Art of Fusion”

PAUL PAIRET

3- MICHELIN STAR CHEF AND HUBLOT FRIEND OF THE BRAND

“I love how gastronomy can awaken the senses and stir emotions. I loved letting my senses and emotions explore new sensations through the culinary journey dreamed up by Anne-Sophie Pic and Yannick Alléno. I love how the moiré pattern of the Big Bang Unico Gourmet and the legendary history of this age-old material channels emotions and fuses a variety of senses. What incredible artistry!”

ENEKO ATXA

3- MICHELIN STAR CHEF AND HUBLOT FRIEND OF THE BRAND

Fusion in the Kitchen
One evening, the Hublot brigade and four Michelin-starred chefs. The challenge: to bring two of them together in the kitchen and let the fusion happen. The result? A unique experience and a unique menu that leave an indelible mark. In a menu developed in tandem, Anne-Sophie & Yannick fused two ingredients essential to their cuisine and to Hublot: respect for raw materials and a taste for innovation. The two chefs combined Anne-Sophie Pic’s instinctive and intuitive cuisine with Yannick Alléno’s experimental and modernist technique. A meeting of minds and taste that brought to life an experience and a menu that were first, unique and different. One hundred guests had the chance to experience a moment suspended in time alongside the chefs and their brigade. At the table for once, Eneko Atxa and Paul Pairet took part in the extraordinary experience on the other side of the looking glass.

Big Bang Unico Gourmet – Limited Edition of 200 pieces
To celebrate its Gastronomy family, Hublot imagined transposing the chef’s steel of predilection to that of its watches. Damascus steel affixes its original imprint on the case and the bezel of the Big Bang Unico Gourmet. Thanks to its practical Velcro strap, the UNICO HUB1280 manufacture chronograph will just have enough time to measure the speed with which it takes for the watch to go from the chef’s wrists to the chef’s stainless-steel worktops.

A Legendary Steel on the Wrist

This storied steel, historically known as Wootz and originating in the Damascus region in 300 BC, was known to forge the most resistant and cutting swords. Today, Damascus steel refers to a technique of hammering and folding steel to make it more resistant. This steel is often used to forge the kitchen knives prized by Michelin-starred chefs. It is now used to make the Big Bang, in a limited edition of 200 pieces – the Big Bang Unico Gourmet. Also known as Damasteel^Ò, it iss made by the Swedish company Damasteel, which has mastered the fashioning of this material since 1876. This unique steel has greater resistance and a unique weave of patterned steel on its surface. Damasteel^Ò is not a traditional metal, it is a metal composite created from two types of steel. The first, 304L, is dark and made primarily of carbon; the other, 316L, is lighter – the two are forged, folded and folded again like a flaky puff pastry, then pressed. A matrix rendering that sees the two materials welded into each other, producing a patterned weave that is unique every time. These moiré patterns, like a fingerprint, are never identical. To adapt perfectly to the watch’s dimensions, Hublot chose a unique design, a pattern that fuses age-old savoir faire with the innovation developed by Damasteel^Ò. Surface corrosion of the composite allows the stratification of the two steels to appear, revealing the pattern through a contrast of the materials. In addition to its highly recognisable aesthetics, Damascus steel is also renowned for being more durable than traditional steel.

From gastronomy to watchmaking, the 12th of October will leave a lasting, indelible mark.

Hublot & Gastronomy
Three ambassadors – Anne-Sophie Pic, Yannick Alléno, Andreas Caminada – and four friends of the brand – Clare Smyth, Eneko Atxa, Paul Pairet and Christian André Peterson make up Hublot’s Michelin-starred journey into the world of high gastronomy In 2019, Hublot had already put on a live cooking show with Andreas Caminada & Yannick Alléno working as a duo to celebrate the Art of Fusion. This is the spirit of the Hublot family, coming together, collaborating, giving life to projects with and between the brand ambassadors.

Anne-Sophie Pic – Hublot Ambassador since 2021

With four establishments holding ten Michelin stars, and with three Michelin stars since 1997, Anne-Sophie Pic is the most decorated Michelin-starred female chef in the world. She fuses new flavours, consensual tastes and forgotten or unloved ingredients in culinary innovations that never cease to surprise.

Yannick Alléno – Hublot Ambassador since 2018

With eight establishments around the world, three Michelin stars in 2015 and three in 2017 and chef of the Pavillon Ledoyen, the private establishment with the most Michelin stars in the world in 2020, Yannick Alléno fuses age-old heritage with new codes in a visionary culinary art.

Paul Pairet – Friend of the Hublot brand since 2020

Four establishments, three in Shanghai and one in Paris, Brasserie d’Aumont, all totaling three Michelin stars. He expresses himself through textures and temperatures. He rejects the culinary codes and creates culinary works of art and innovative multi-sensorial experiences.

Eneko Atxa – Friend of the Hublot brand since 2021

Six establishments, from Spain to Portugal, from Belgium to Japan, he is one of the youngest chefs to be awarded three Michelin stars. His signature dishes are embellished simple preparations and products in a Basque tradition; his philosophy involves cooking for a better future, an approach that has already won him several sustainable development prizes.