The intersection of watches and culture with famed tattoo artist, Maxime Plescia-Büchi

Russell Sheldrake

There has always been a fun sector on the Venn diagram of watch collectors, where tattoo artists and enthusiasts meet the watch community and it’s here where we find some of the most creative people in watches today. Maxime Plescia-Büchi is one of those hyper-creative people. While he may be most famous for being the tattoo artist to have inked Virgil Abloh, Kanye West, fellow Hublot ambassador Samuel Ross, and Adam Lambert, he is also a Creative Director and Graphic Designer who has been hit up by brands such as Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Hermès, and Hublot.

Maxime sits down with Andrew for a wide-ranging discussion in the latest episode of our podcast, Watches And, which takes the pair from video games, living in La Chaux-de-Fonds during the Quartz Crisis, a deep love of hip-hop, and interviewing Jean-Claude Biver. It’s clear from this chat that Maxime has led an incredibly colourful life. This is reflected in his artwork today, whether he is inking one of his highly detailed, full-body tattoos or using his understanding of geometry to design his latest work with Hublot.

While we won’t judge Maxime Plescia-Büchi too harshly for his first mechanical watch being a Rolex Deep Sea, it’s clear his tastes have expanded and refined since then as he speaks of his high regard not only for Hublot but also for the forms that Urwerk produce. Given that he was born and grew up in the heartland of the watch industry between La Chaux-de-Founds and Biel, his exposure to the industry was early and all-encompassing, with his physician Grandfather healing the ailments of the industry’s workforce and his journalist Father reporting on the most turbulent periods it has known. So it feels like Maxime has come full circle with the various editions he has created with Hublot.

Listen to the full episode now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, where you can catch our previous episodes with Usain Bolt, Ada Hegerberg, Andrew Morgan, and Mai Ikuzawa. And make sure you subscribe now so you never miss an episode as we continue to explore all of the fascinating subjects that surround watches today.