Watch Paparazzi

Singer Ed Sheeran spotted wearing Hublot

Ed Sheeran has never been a man of horological subtlety, and his latest wrist sighting confirms the trend emphatically. The British singer-songwriter was photographed wearing the Hublot Classic Fusion Tourbillon Skull, reference 505.UC.0170.VR.SKULL — a piece so limited and so visually confrontational that it barely needs celebrity endorsement to command attention.

The ref. 505.UC.0170.VR.SKULL is built around a 45mm King Gold case, Hublot's proprietary 18-karat rose gold alloy alloyed with platinum to significantly improve surface hardness — a genuine material innovation, not mere marketing. Inside sits the manually wound HUB6010 caliber, a skeletonized tourbillon movement whose bridges and plates have been architecturally reconfigured to form and frame a three-dimensional skull. The flying tourbillon sits at 6 o'clock, suspended within the skull's cranial cavity with an almost theatrical precision. Water resistance is rated to 50 meters, and the piece runs on a 120-hour power reserve — generous for a hand-wound tourbillon of this complexity.

The Classic Fusion Skull series occupies a specific niche within Hublot's broader catalog: it sits above the entry-level Big Bang in craft and complication but channels the same aggressive aesthetic DNA that defines the brand's identity since Jean-Claude Biver's transformative era. Limiting production to 50 examples globally ensures genuine scarcity, and the skull complication, executed at this level of finishing with a full tourbillon, represents a meaningful horological and artistic undertaking rather than a purely decorative exercise.

Sheeran has previously been associated with Hublot, and the brand's bold, unsubtle design language aligns well with his public persona — approachable superstardom with an appetite for extravagance that never quite tips into self-seriousness. A 50-piece tourbillon at this price point is, by any measure, a serious collector acquisition.

On the market, the Classic Fusion Tourbillon Skull ref. 505.UC.0170.VR.SKULL carried a UK list price of approximately £94,000 at launch. In USD terms, retail sits in the $115,000–$120,000 range depending on market and timing. Given its extreme production limit and the tourbillon complication, grey market premiums can push realized prices meaningfully above retail when examples surface.