While turning 21 signals the transition from teenager to adult, a celebration is required. For Hublot's Big Bang, the rollover to the age of 20 is just an excuse to, well, celebrate. Back when the brand appeared in 1980, it rankled watch purists with its bold and unconventional design. It is not a quiet watch as you can see. And then came the Big Bang.
Launched in 2005, the Big Bang model was a different sort of beast. Recognisable by its oversized porthole-inspired bezel and exposed screws, it pioneered Hublot's "Art of Fusion" motto with a blend of materials like ceramic, gold and rubber mixed into its construction. Powered by Hublot's in-house Unico movements, the Big Bang became the House's signature piece (so popular was the model that it had a spin-off, Spirit of Big Bang).
Now as the Big Bang celebrates its 20th anniversary, Hublot does what it does best: go full-measure with a release of limited-edition Big Bangs, including a set of five that goes for SGD1,542,800.
It's called the "Materials & High Complications" set, a one of a kind that showcase the brand's mastery in material innovation and high watchmaking. You've your Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Sapphire, where the entire case is made from sapphire crystal coupled with an automatic micro-rotor tourbillon movement; the Big Bang Tourbillon Chronograph Water Blue Sapphire, a skeleton monopusher chronograph tourbillon calibre is enveloped in a tropical blue crystalline case; the Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Red Ceramic, made from a vibrant red ceramic (very difficult to imbue bright colours with ceramic, from what we heard); the Big Bang Tourbillon Chronograph Cathedral Minute Repeater Black Frosted Carbon Fibre, forged in black-frosted carbon fibre and has a monopusher chronograph and cathedral gongs and the Big Bang Integrated Tourbillon Cathedral Minute Repeater Blue Texalium, where the material "Texalium" (a carbon fibre variant) allows for easy customisation in its weave and colour (actual carbon fibre only comes in black/grey) which allows for an integrated bracelet in a deep-sea blue and comes with a cathedral minute repeater.
Only available as an array of five, you can sort of see why the "Materials & High Complications" would command this much coin. For something more affordable, we have these:
Hublot's first use of sapphire was in 2016. In the following year, the brand showcased two chromatic sapphires (red and blue) in the Big Bang Unico. It was notable because no one thought they could do that with sapphire but there you go. Since then, Hublot started to expand on more colour variants and forms.
There are only five sets of the the Big Bang 20th Anniversary “Master of Sapphire” in the world. Each set has five Big Bang MECA-10 watches in different hues—transparent sapphire; Water Blue sapphire; Deep Blue sapphire; Purple sapphire and Neon Yellow SAXEM—that match the straps as well.
The "Master of Sapphire" watches are housed in a display case with a backlit panel with vertical lights; a glass panel with a frosted finish slides apart. There are also an engraved plaque marking “Master of Sapphire XX/05”.
We continue with Hublot's finesse in mixing colours with unimagined materials. You have Mint Green and Petrol Blue making their debut in ceramic. Each colourway will be seen in the Big Bang Unico 42mm and the Big Bang One Click 33mm. The former has Hublot’s in-house automatic chronograph calibre, and the latter has a diamond-set steel bezel. This is also the first time that a Big Bang One Click 33mm model is crafted in ceramic.
For the limited editions, Hublot took several key features from the Big Bang's 20-year history and reinterpreted it in five models—Red Magic (100 pieces); King Gold Ceramic (250 pieces); Titanium Ceramic (500 pieces); All Black (500 pieces) and Full Magic Gold (100). All models feature a redesigned ceramic case that has a distinctive layered construction and have the classic Big Bang features like the pinched lugs, a knurled bezel edge, and of course, the silhouette. There are engraved dials with carbon fibre-inspired relief motifs; the riveted Arabic numerals and indexes now have Super-LumiNova on them.
The dials feature two counters—one for the small seconds at nine and the other for the minutes of the chronograph at three—that are driven by the Unico automatic manufacture chronograph movement. A structured rubber strap with a treaded lozenge pattern, is fastened to the case via the One Click strap-change mechanism.
For more information, visit the Hublot website
