Hublot is a self-initiated experimental piece, made to captivate audiences on social with future-facing visuals. Frantic used it to take Cinema 4D’s latest particle system for a spin and build a visually rich CGI watch animation around it.
The brief the studio set itself was open by design. Experimental work is where new tools get stress-tested and new looks get found, away from the deadlines and sign-offs of client projects, and the findings feed straight back into commissioned work.
The concept is a contemporary reimagining of the classic “sands of time” metaphor, a way to explore the interplay between precision, time and transience, using shifting particles to evoke both mechanical elegance and natural fluidity.
The piece served as a creative sandbox for texture development, motion design and visual storytelling. The central problem was getting particles to mimic a granular material like sand while still behaving with the precision and intent needed to complement the form of a modern timepiece. Look development pushed a premium, contemporary palette and lighting, keeping the abstract particle work anchored to the feel of a luxury watch.
That tension, between the randomness of sand and the control a luxury product demands, was the technical puzzle worth solving. The animation also became a narrative study, blending abstract elements with product-focused visuals to hint at larger themes the studio is keen to explore in future.
It was a chance to challenge the workflow, try new rendering techniques and refine the studio’s approach to dynamic simulations. Sometimes the best way to find what is creatively and technically possible is to build it and let the process shape the outcome.
“
Tom Ralls, Motion Lead, Frantic
As an experimental piece, its value is in what it opens up. It stretched Frantic’s particle and simulation work and produced a striking, social-ready watch film in the process.
Just as importantly, it set down ideas and techniques the studio intends to carry into commissioned luxury projects, the kind of forward investment that keeps a CGI pipeline ahead of what clients ask for next.
