Swiss watchmaker Hublot has unveiled a plethora of Big Bangs at Watches & Wonders 2024. The star of the show is the Big Bang MP-11 Water Blue Sapphire, which is presented in a brand new colour: a radiant and translucent water blue. Other variations of the Big Bang make their appearance in new colours debuted by the marque, which include Orange Ceramic, Blue Sapphire, with a new Big Bang e Gen3 EURO 2024 offered ahead of the UEFA EURO 2024
Big Bang MP-11 Water Blue Sapphire
Hublot has unveiled a new interpretation of sapphire with its Big Bang MP-11 Water Blue Sapphire. The MP-11, featuring its sculptural 7-barrel movement with a 2-week power reserve, makes its debut in a new colour: a radiant and translucent water blue. To maintain a conventional height (10.9 mm), the seven barrels are coaxial and vertical. They are not integrated into the thickness of the movement. They are physically in front of it, set at 90° to it. To allow their 336 hours of power reserve to reach the movement, Hublot had to design a tailor-made device: a 90° transmission that uses a helical worm gear. The wheel is clearly visible between 9 and 10 o’clock. The balance is placed opposite it at 2 o’clock, with its rate at 4 o’clock. The Hublot HUB9011 calibre, with 270 components, has a patented index-assembly system and silicon escapement that protects the movement from any electromagnetic or thermal interference. A very slowly rotating disc (one revolution every two weeks) indicates the remaining power reserve as close as possible to its energy source, directly at the head of the seven aligned barrels. The timepiece can be wound manually using the large, fluted crown with a worm screw type relief. This new shade is based on a new chemical formula, a custom development, and an exclusive transparency index, yet still boasts all the usual properties of sapphire: brilliant, luminous, perfectly inalterable, and 100% resistant to knocks and scratches.
Big Bang Unico Orange Ceramic
The new Big Bang Unico Orange Ceramic follows in the footsteps of its predecessors. It offers a unique, perfectly uniform colour, whatever exterior component it is used to adorn. It is finished to a very high watchmaking standard, with a perfect mirror polish all over. Hand finishing is the only way to achieve this level of excellence on all the components, due to their diverse shapes, thicknesses, holes, and angles. Hublot has recreated the exact colour of the ceramic for the counters on the dial and the hands, as well as for the integrated rubber strap. This strap features the patented “One-Click” system for quick, tool-free changes. This series is limited to 250 pieces. At its heart beats the UNICO Chronograph Manufacture calibre. This is the very latest generation of the automatic flyback chronograph movement developed by Hublot. Guaranteeing a three-day power reserve (72 hours), it retains the same aesthetic signature: column wheel at 6 o’clock, bicompax layout (small seconds at 9 o’clock, 60-minute counter at 3 o’clock with integrated date), silicon escapement, and the always demonstrative and powerful skeleton architecture. The UNICO sits inside the iconic Big Bang case. This version is 42 mm in diameter and features the famous 6 titanium ‘H’ shaped bezel screws and lugs on either side of the that echo the design of a ship’s porthole.
Square Bang Unico Magic Gold
Square Bang Unico Ceramic Magic Gold
The Square Bang was designed as an everyday piece and was originally made from titanium. Now two new references of the Square Bang Unico in Magic Gold have been unveiled. The piece retains its extraordinary design: a solid square with rounded corners, the bezel punctuated with the 6 signature Big Bang screws, skeleton dial, lugs on either side of the case, and the integrated “One Click” bracelet. For this new Square Bang, the bezel is massive and protruding and extends generously away from the case. It is clearly functional, supporting the six H-shaped screws, which attach it securely to the case. Lustrous and practical, it is made from solid Magic Gold, the framework within which the Unico, a bicompax manufacture date and chronograph movement, shines. Developed and patented by the Manufacture, Magic Gold is the first and only 18-karat gold alloy in the world to be completely scratch-resistant due to its hardness of almost 1000 Vickers, with only diamond boasting a greater hardness. This ensures it retains its beauty, lustre, and polished finish over time. Magic Gold is an 18-karat gold verified by the Central Office for Precious Metals Control. The bezel is worked across all three dimensions: in terms of height with the generous thickness of gold; sides that are slightly concave, leading to a domed surface. The edges are soft. The piece, crafted from a solid block of gold, is completely polished. This is a unique feature, exclusive to this Square Bang: normally, bezels are rarely this large and polished, as they would be vulnerable to scratches. But as Magic Gold is scratch resistant, Hublot has enjoyed free rein when designing this bezel, both in volume and surface finish.
Big Bang Integrated Time Only
The Big Bang Integrated Time Only embodies the original DNA of the Big Bang, with a solid dial and integrated bracelet, in a new 38-mm version. It has all the features of a “Big Bang”: the powerful case with its two “ears” on either side, the bezel adorned with its six H-shaped functional screws, the large skeleton hour and minute hands accompanied by their seconds hand finished with the Manufacture’s signature counterpoise, all the even-numbered indices from 2 to 12 on the dial, and the rubber on the crown. The timepiece now comes in a reduced diameter of 38 mm. The six new Big Bang Integrated Time Only models feature an integrated case and bracelet with both made from the same material. The first two versions are in ceramic. The first version is entirely navy blue, with a blue dial. The second version features “Black Magic;” with a case, bracelet, and dial in deepest black, this is the first Big Bang Black Magic ever created on a watch measuring 38 mm – a diameter previously only available on rare Classic Fusion models. There are two other versions in brushed titanium, with a black or a blue dial. The last two versions are in King Gold, available with these same two dial colourways. The dial of the BB457 Integrated is made of soft ferromagnetic steel. The movement is thus optimally protected against magnetic fields, preserving its chronometric precision from these external influences.
Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu Sapphire
The Spirit of Big Bang Sang Bleu Sapphire has kept the Spirit of Big Bang, maintaining the 42 mm diameter and the soul of the barrel shape, while offering a different aesthetic finish. There’s no change on the movement side, with the HUB4700, a skeletonised automatic chronograph with date at 4.30, 50-hour power reserve and its oscillating weight redesigned in the Sang Bleu style. The inspired design remains the same, a watch incised, chiselled, angled, and faceted by Sang Bleu, revealing and overlaying hexagons, rhombuses and triangles redrawing forms and volumes, feature by feature. The sapphire now extends from the dial – which already revealed the HUB4700 self-winding skeleton chronograph movement through the disc hands designed by Sang Bleu – to the case and the bezel, enhancing the watch’s organic design. Under the impact of the sapphire’s transparency, the purity of the Sang Bleu features, which remain sharp and methodical, expresses itself here in an ultra-light minimalist style, both visually and on the wrist. Thanks to 3D machining and over 100 hours of work, the Spirit of Big Bang Sapphire Sang Bleu is practically as hard and scratch-resistant as a diamond (9 on the Mohs scale, compared to 10 for diamonds). The only remaining non-transparent elements are the crown, the push buttons, the screws on the case, the 6 H-shaped screws on the bezel, and the folding clasp, all cut out of titanium, and the components of the movement. The timepiece is produced in a run of 100 pieces.
Big Bang Unico Ice Bang
For its new online exclusive, the Manufacture releases a unique piece: an “Ice Bang” equipped with the Unico movement; only 100 timepieces will be available exclusively from the hublot.com e-commerce boutique. This timepiece is a marvellous miniature masterpiece, orchestrated so that its numerals and mechanics are superimposed and combined, blending together into a harmonious two-tone creation, which can be admired through the sapphire crystal with its anti-reflective coating. The matt black dial reveals the column wheel of the HUB1280 Manufacture calibre, a self-winding flyback chronograph movement with a 72-hour power reserve. The calendar disc pirouettes beneath the hour indices in a ballet against the beat, with the date shown at 3 o’clock in the seconds counter. The case is made of black micro-blasted and polished ceramic. Lightweight, hypoallergenic, and stainless, the ceramic has been developed in-house using unique processes to achieve a deep colour and unrivalled comfort. The bezel in satin-finished and polished tungsten contrasts with the black ceramic. With a 42-mm-diameter and 14.5-mm-thick case middle, the Big Bang Unico Ice Bang is a unisex watch that adapts to the wearer’s use and style. This Ice Bang 2024 comes with two interchangeable straps featuring Hublot’s patented One-Click system: the first strap is designed in Velcro mesh with a black ceramic buckle for a sportier look, with the second strap featuring a more classic Hublot aesthetic thanks to its striated black rubber and a black titanium folding clasp.
Big Bang e Gen3 EURO 2024
UEFA EURO 2024, the final phase of the UEFA European Football Championship, will take place this summer in Germany. Ahead of this great festival of European football, Hublot and Kylian Mbappé, the brand’s ambassador, are together starting the countdown by unveiling the “Every second counts!” campaign. In 2024, Hublot is continuing to express its passion for football by releasing an update to this Big Bang e Gen 3 dedicated to the EURO 2024. This connected watch fits perfectly with the watchmaking codes of the Big Bang collection. The 44 mm case crafted from titanium boasts a sandwich construction, an approach invented by Hublot in 2005. Its bezel is adorned with 6 H-shaped screws, and the sapphire crystal is scratch-resistant; the rubber strap has a deployant buckle, and can be easily swapped over, using the patented One-Click system. Its case houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processor, ensuring it outperforms all other Hublot connected watches. Notable features include 8 different sensors and GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC payment connectivity. The Big Bang e Gen3 is, of course, compatible with both Google Android and Apple iOS operating systems and, so it can be dressed in the colours of the wearer’s favourite teams; the screen backgrounds and straps can be changed. This new connected watch will allow its wearer to follow – in real time – the final phase of the next UEFA 2024 European Championship, set to take place in Germany from June 14 to July 14, and for which 21 teams have now qualified. These include France, led by its captain Kylian Mbappé, who are looking to lift their third trophy.
