News & Trends: A partnership of epic proportions has yielded the season's most remarkable and striking watch. By combining the forces of one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen with one of the world's most exclusive luxury watchmakers, an unparalleled piece has been created.

When Nubeo paired up with Kobe Bryant, they leveraged their common attributes, such as facing complex challenges with an unsurpassed vigor that generates results, and produced the Black Mamba: equal parts design brilliance and athletic heroism.

From their headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, the capital of the luxury timepiece world and also the home to the world's foremost watchmaker's annual fair and exhibition, come all of Nubeo's timepieces.

With the creation of the Black Mamba line, Nubeo has reinvented the jeweled timepiece and created a masculine and sporty watch endowed with revered jewels once thought to be exclusively feminine.

Each of the three designs, the basic, Ultimate and MVP editions are each unique and worthy of praise in their own way. The use of today's most innovative materials, including rubber, Grade 5 titanium and ceramic, has placed the watch at the cutting edge of not only technology, but trend as well.

The Guilloche bezel surface serves as the background for the bold numerals circling the bezel in the basic edition. The Black Mamba features what could very well be the most complex watchcase ever designed with an astounding 131 components, excluding the movement. Despite its incredibly high level of complexity, the watch still retains water resistance up to depths of 100 meters, which shows the brand's unshakable and meticulous craftsmanship.

The basic edition is available in 810 pieces, referring to the record-setting 81 points scored by Kobe Bryant in the game on January 22, 2006 against the Toronto Raptors. The other editions, Ultimate and MVP, are limited to 240 and 24 pieces for each of the unique designs, respectively, honoring Bryant's jersey number; 24.

While the basic edition of the watch is quite a sight to be seen, the Ultimate and MVP designs elevate the collection to an entirely new level. The Ultimate model replaces the dial's outer ring scale engraving with a complete set of 48 baguette cut and trapezoid sapphires in either all black sapphires, or the eye-catching sports version with 36 black and 12 orange or whiskey sapphires. On the dial level, the chronograph counters are decorated with 72 black sapphires in a brilliant cut.

But the watch that sets the stage for all luxurious timepiece design is the MVP model, the design that Kobe himself wears on his wrist. The MVP elevates the collection to a new level of sophistication with the setting of 48 baguette cut, trapezium shaped black or whiskey sapphires on the bezel and another 48 on the outer ring of the dial. When combined with the 72 round brilliant cut black sapphires on the dial, the Black Mamba finds itself home to 168 gems weighing in at a total of 10.98 carats.

The truly exceptional timepieces now lead the pack of Nubeo's collections, setting the brand apart and setting the sage for watchmakers worldwide. Critics and collectors alike can only hope that this is not the last collaboration the brand will embark upon because, when great minds think alike, the results are outstanding, and the Black Mamba is solid proof.

For JustLuxe Kate Prihoda

Posted On: Monday Aug. 17th, 2009