Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the original design of its watches made Hublot an iconic watchmaking brand. The marque’s first watch case was directly inspired by the porthole, or hublot, of a boat – firmly rooting the brand and its distinctive watch design. Over the years, through its Art of Fusion and Hublot Loves… campaigns, Hublot has connected with various fields and sports, some of the most popular being football and arts. We take you through the worlds that Hublot connects
HUBLOT CELEBRATES “THE ART OF FUSION”
At its inception, Hublot was the first luxury watch brand to combine gold and natural rubber. By pioneering the combination of natural materials that were never previously found together, Hublot became a modern-day alchemist marrying the past and the future, tradition, and innovation. This creative concept, known as the “Art of Fusion”, sparked a genuine revolution in the watch industry. A distinctive symbol of its personality, the Art of Fusion now guides all of its actions, innovations, developments, and partnerships. Embodying this subtle connection between a past ingrained with secular traditions, and a future nourished by visionary ideas, always avant-garde, always researching new resources, it blends styles and materials with ease.
In 2004, Jean-Claude Biver – one of leading figures to have positively disrupted the Swiss watchmaking industry – took over control of the brand and gave it tremendous momentum, leading to impressive growth. Less than a year later, in 2005, the brand successfully launched the Big Bang Gold Ceramic, the first model in the Big Bang collection. This stylish, contemporary chronograph received many awards around the world that saw Hublot set numerous records and secured its success. New to watchmaking, its instantly recognisable lines featuring sharp angles, six screws arranged around the case, and bezel lugs on each side, perfectly illustrate the concept of fusion. Ten years later, as Hublot celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Big Bang, it became the brand’s signature timepiece and a veritable watchmaking icon.
Since then, Hublot has launched six collections – Big Bang, Classic Fusion, Spirit of Big Bang, Manufacture Piece, Techframe and King Power – housing movements ranging from the most pared-back to the most complicated (chronograph, tourbillon, cathedral minute repeater, GMT, and so on). These collections have enabled Hublot to continue writing the story of fusion by combining materials such as King Gold (an exclusive Hublot gold containing 5% platinum), Hublonium (a brand-new alloy of aluminium and magnesium), sapphire, gold crystal, coloured ceramic, carbon fibre, tungsten, titanium, gold, platinum, rubber, precious stones, linen, embroidery, leather and texalium, among others.
in 2012 Hublot built its own foundry to exploit the full potential of its ongoing R&D operations. The foundry included a team dedicated to fusion – the Metallurgy and Materials Department, enabling the brand to commence in-house production of Magic Gold, a scratch-resistant 18-carat gold developed in association with EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) at the end of 2011 – a Hublot world exclusive. Since then, it has constantly upgraded its metallurgical facilities and expertise, resulting in innovative offerings such as the Big Bang Unico Sapphire All Black across the years.
Furthering its theme of fusion, Hublot has partnered with iconic brands from other fields and sports to unveil various watches that highlight this ethos. They include the Techframe Ferrari Tourbillon Chronograph, Big Bang Unico Golf, Big Bang Italia Independent, Classic Fusion Berluti, among others.
Spirit of Big Bang Tourbillon Orange Sapphire
In the seven years since its launch in 2014, the distinctive Spirit of Big Bang has been cultivating its differences whilst incorporating the signature Hublot codes – 6 H-shaped titanium screws, a “sandwich” case construction, and a demonstration of the Art of Fusion. Now in its latest offering, Hublot combines its mastery of the metallurgy – and especially Orange Sapphire – with its iconic Spirit of Big Bang to unveil the Spirit of Big Bang Tourbillon Orange Sapphire.
If there’s one area where Hublot’s Art of Fusion is expressed in all its boldness and radiance, it’s that of cutting-edge materials, particularly manufactured sapphire. Over the years, the marque has already released numerous illustrious watches where the sapphire cases and dials, available in novel colours, act as transparent settings for sophisticated mechanics – such as the Big Bang Unico Sapphire (transparent), All Black Sapphire, Big Bang Unico Red Sapphire and Blue Sapphire, Spirit of Big Bang Yellow Sapphire, and recently the Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Orange Sapphire – a world first for a through-tinted sapphire.
In its quest for perfect harmony between movements and cases, Hublot’s engineers and chemists sought a transparent material to enable the heart of the watch to be admired, whilst being robust enough to effectively protect the mechanics and resist the stresses of an active life. Thus, the brand has become an expert in synthetic sapphire offering unique aesthetic effects in watchmaking – transforming each watch into a work of art.
The main challenge involves obtaining a material with a uniform colour, without impurities, without bubbles, without cracks, the manufacture of which can be repeated in an identical fashion qualitatively and aesthetically. The extreme hardness of the sapphire also requires specific machining methods.
Released in a limited edition of 50 pieces, the Spirit of Big Bang Tourbillon Orange Sapphire plays with contrasts and transparency with a polished orange sapphire crystal case and bezel with a sapphire crystal dial, which reveal the ultra-aesthetic architecture of the HUB6020 manufacture movement. A skeleton tourbillon specially designed to sit within the tonneau case of the Spirit of Big Bang. A power reserve of 115 hours, hand-wound, with a 5-day indicator set at 8 o’clock. At 6 o’clock, the tourbillon cage completes one rotation per minute. Off-centre hours and minutes can be read at 3 o’clock. Paired with a transparent orange structured lined rubber strap, the Spirit of Big Bang Tourbillon Orange Sapphire is completed with a titanium deployant buckle clasp.
HUBLOT LOVES FOOTBALL
With only a few days to go before the start of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Hublot unveiled the official “Hublot Loves Football” campaign. Hublot will serve as the tournament’s Official Timekeeper, timing all 64 matches, right through to the final in Doha’s Lusail Stadium on December 18. With more than 1 billion viewers, the FIFA World Cup tournament is the world’s most watched sports event.
To illustrate the campaign, Hublot’s love of football, and the brand’s commitment to beauty in diversity, Hublot invited Lebanese fashion designer Mira Mikati to design a special, happy, colourful “Hublot Loves Football” campaign logo that brims with optimism. Her hand-drawn and -painted design captures a youthful, hopeful enthusiasm and communicates a spirit of unity.
Hublot x Mira Mikati “Hublot Loves Football” ball designs
In addition, Hublot brought Mira together with 15 Hublot Ambassadors and Friends of the Brand to create 15 unique designs to represent the football of their dreams. Each is a one-off piece of art created to capture the themes of hope and universal respect, as well as the individual personalities of the football stars and their shared passion for football. Some are hand-drawn and painted, others crocheted, representing the human element in football. Mira then met with each star and explored their passions and personalities to help her craft the final designs for their ball designs. Here they are:
- Hublot Loves Football x Kylian Mbappé
- Hublot Loves Football x Pelé
- Hublot Loves Football x Laure Boulleau
- Hublot Loves Football x Marcel Desailly
- Hublot Loves Football x Didier Deschamps
- Hublot Loves Football x Luis Figo
- Hublot Loves Football x Ada Hegerberg
- Hublot Loves Football x Roberto Martinez
- Hublot Loves Football x Alex Morgan
- Hublot Loves Football x Jose Mourinho
- Hublot Loves Football x Alexia Putellas
- Hublot Loves Football x Hervé Renard
- Hublot Loves Football x Xherdan Shaqiri
- Hublot Loves Football x Gareth Southgate
- Hublot Loves Football x David Trezeguet
Working with each of the Hublot Ambassadors, Mira explored multiple ways of projecting their personalities and lives on to the ball designs. We bring you a few insights of how Mira perceived and evoked each personality in her ball designs.
Mira described the challenge of designing a ball for talismanic French international striker Kylian Mbappé as one of the most exciting of her career. She wanted to capture the concepts of “dream” and “dedication” to illustrate how he has devoted himself to realising his wildest ambitions. The colours reflect his story. Pink, his favourite, for his first dream football boots. Orange for Inspired by KM, his children’s foundation. And blue for France and the beauty of the sky.
Pelé is a football icon, and so much more. Mira drew inspiration from the Brazilian’s energy, peace, and humanity, and conceived the Pelé design around five characteristics she felt best described him: optimistic, disciplined, respectful, genuine, and iconoclastic. She chose yellow to capture Pelé’s sunny disposition and added the famous silhouette of his overhead kick.
In French FIFA World Cup winner Marcel Desailly, Mira saw wonderful, celebratory energy. She took the colours of the Ghanaian flag and of Marcel’s clubs to create a sunny, fresh ball design. The finishing touch is the date, 12 July 1998, the day Marcel lifted the FIFA World Cup with France.
Norwegian footballer Ada Hegerberg’s motto is simple: “Believe in yourself”. In Ada, Mira found an incredibly dynamic personality, radiating energy, and so created a colourful, crocheted ball decorated with that same motto.
Jose Mourinho is one of football’s greatest-ever managers, known for his pithy insights. He gave Mira two guidelines. First: “The World Cup ball must represent all the colours of the world.” Mira created cheerful, graphic interpretations of the competing nations’ flags. And second, his secret motto: “The most important victory is the next one.” She added these bright, forward-looking words to his design.
Spanish international Alexia Putellas loves colour, flowers, the sea, and spending time with her family. For her, Mira designed a happy, summery, colourful ball covered in floral motifs. The design also includes a heart, representing Alexia’s sisters, the Barcelona coast and, of course, her love of football.
As manager of the Saudi Arabian national team, Frenchman Hervé Renard told Mira he was inspired by the heat, blue sky, and palm trees of the desert. She took this and created a scene full of colour and life, adding the word “unity” to capture Hervé’s starting point as a coach: “the team before the player”.
Goal machine David Trezeguet spearheaded France to FIFA World Cup glory in 1998. His passion and infectious energy prompted Mira to design a yellow, orange, and red ball, finished with his nickname “Trezegoal”.
Big Bang e FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
The Big Bang e FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is a Gen3 connected watch in Hublot’s collection and is the highest performing and exciting Big Bang e to date. The 129 official referees will be timing the game with the new Big Bang e FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 – the latest FIFA-special offering by Hublot, the Official Timekeeper – on their wrists.
Before the tournament starts, the Big Bang e FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be in countdown mode, keeping track of the days until the opening match on November 20 between Qatar and Ecuador. Then, with 15 minutes to go before each match, the watch will deliver team line-ups and player profiles, so the wearer can feast on the details from the comfort of their wrist.
As a game kicks off, the watch will automatically enter “match mode” and activate “timeline” – a feature created exclusively for this watch that will help fans capture the most memorable and most important moments in football. The outer edge of the dial has a scale split into five sections, indicating the first and second halves, additional time allowed in each half, and half time. If a goal is scored, the watch will show a match event animation mentioning the player’s name, and a football symbol will appear at the appropriate minute mark on the scale, with the same occurring if there is a yellow card, a red card, or a penalty.
If a match goes beyond normal time, the watch display will automatically switch into extra time mode, and then into shootout mode if a match goes to penalties. Each penalty is recorded by a football with a green or red outline to indicate if the attempt was successful. A final “match period animation” shows when the game is over, and the final score.
At any point during a game, the wearer can replay these events by scrolling around the dial using the watch’s crown. After five seconds of inactivity, the watch automatically switches into “low consumption mode” to save battery.
The imposing, exquisitely engineered 44mm case in micro-blasted and polished black ceramic and black titanium is clearly a Big Bang. It houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor powered with Wear OS 3 by Google, with a dedicated app tailor-made for the watch. Other features include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a microphone, a speaker, GPS, and a heart-rate monitor, as well as a full suite of preloaded apps that enable wearers to stay connected and to track activity, health, and more. Wearers can discover more great apps with Google Play on their watches.
It promises all-day battery life and a two-hour charge to full from empty. Bluetooth 5.0 will connect it to a wide range of devices and accessories. The watch is Android- and iOS-compatible, water-resistant to 3 ATM, and limited to 1,000 pieces.
The watch is highly personalisable, with dozens of dial options available. The official version has a burgundy dial and a black-and-burgundy lined rubber strap evoking the Qatari flag. Fans can choose dial and strap designs in the colours of each of the 32 participating countries.
HUBLOT LOVES ART
Fostering a desire to work with the most talented practitioners in alternate fields, the brand introduced its “Hublot Loves Art” initiative more than a decade ago. Hublot has since collaborated with some of the most talented artists and designers of a generation.
Big Bang Tourbillon Samuel Ross
Renaissance man Dr Samuel Ross – who describes himself as a creative director – is a 30-year-old multi-disciplinary artist, filmmaker, and fashion designer. In 2019, Ross was awarded the prestigious Hublot Design Prize, and a year later he became Hublot’s official brand ambassador, when he unveiled his REFORM, a sculpture designed to encapsulate 40 years of Hublot. The deceptively simple, industrial form of the 40cm high artwork is now reinterpreted in the 44mm Big Bang Tourbillon Samuel Ross – a limited edition of just 50 pieces.
The distinctive, stylised hexagon of the Big Bang case is reflected in the titanium honeycomb mesh used on the sapphire dial, case, case back and strap. A wearable sculpture, it is also durable and ergonomic, with the lightweight, openworked titanium structure and malleable rubber strap ensuring its comfort on the wrist. A proponent of colour theory, Ross has chosen orange – representing energy and optimism – for the strap and accents on the crown and tourbillon bridge and lateral bumpers that protect the case, a glowing contrast to the sober grey of the satin-finished case and bezel. The 282-component, manufacture HUB6035 calibre within beats at 3 Hz and gives 72 hours of power reserve.
Classic Fusion Orlinski Bracelet
After five years of collaboration, Hublot and Richard Orlinski are now presenting four versions of the Classic Fusion Orlinski Bracelet fitted with a new integrated metallic bracelet. This type of bracelet is a tremendous challenge, as the bracelet has to integrate mechanically and aesthetically to the watch case and comfortably adapt to every morphology. Hublot’s technical expertise is evident in the creation of a watch whose corners, bevelled edges and facets define the character of the case, bevel, crown, as well as a metallic bracelet whose architecture is bevelled and faceted in titanium and composed of 83 parts.
Inspired by Richard Orlinski’s sculptures, its chamfered forms play with the reflections of its mirror-polished facets. The H-shaped links recall the Hublot logo. This new bracelet attaches to the 40 mm watch case, on which the facets extend. Its polished titanium case encloses a HUB1100 movement, a self-winding calibre with a power reserve of 42 hours. Its dial comes in a choice of black or white ceramic and displays the angular facets so unique to Richard Orlinski. A partially pave-set version with its new matching bracelet is also available. Playing with shade and light, certain facets on the case, bezel and bracelet are adorned with diamonds, totalling a weight of 3.79 carats.
Big Bang Unico Sang Bleu II
The artistic collaboration between Hublot and Maxime Plescia-Buchi began in 2016, with dozens of timepieces engraved with the indelible mark of the talented ‘grapho-typo-tattoo’ genius. In 2019, the Sang Bleu II featured Maxime Plescia-Buchi’s geometric patterns across the entire case, the hexagonal bezel, the sapphire crystal, the hands, and the strap.
The three new iterations of the Big Bang Sang Bleu are in a 45 mm case made from Magic Gold or Ceramic, with Plescia-Buchi’s designs alternating and superimposed on the case and bezel, with the mechanism-/disc-hands taking the form of a geometric tattoo that extends to the rubber strap. The HUB1240 manufacture self-winding Unico chronograph movement is visible beneath a skeleton dial and a transparent case back. Hublot is offering 100 pieces in the Magic Gold version, 250 in Black Magic in full black ceramic and 200 in the Green Ceramic.
Hublot and Takashi Murakami present two NFTs
Hublot and Takashi Murakami are pushing back the boundaries of artistic expression by presenting two NFT digital works. These are inspired by the Hublot Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami All Black and the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Sapphire Rainbow, the first two watches launched jointly by the Swiss watchmaker and the great Japanese artist in 2021. These two limited edition-timepieces of 200 and 100 respectively were sold out in just a few days.
This latest initiative takes the form of two static NFTs featuring the smiling flower with its mischievous smile, the iconic theme of Murakami’s work and his Superflat artistic movement. The first NFT based on the All Black version is a limited edition of 216, while the second, which will recreate the colours of the highly exclusive Sapphire Rainbow version, will be a limited edition of 108.
Big Bang Unico Gourmet
Hublot’s Michelin-starred and gastronomic adventure began in 2017 with Andreas Caminada. Seven great Michelin-starred chefs have since joined the Hublot family. For the second time, Hublot brought them together, for a private dinner, where two of them were given carte blanche to create a dinner that is “first, unique, different”.
On October 12, 2022, at the Atelier des Lumières, Paris, two great chefs joined together to create a menu that fuses the excellence, the style and the signature of Anne-Sophie Pic and Yannick Alléno. One hundred guests – as well as chefs Eneko Atxa and Paul Pairet – had the chance to experience this unique gourmet feast.
For a chef, their knife is their ally at all times – there is no dish without a knife – and, among the different materials used to shape these knives, Damascus steel is the most iconic. Evoking the culinary arts, the Big Bang Unico Gourmet features Damascus steel on the case and the bezel, while the bracelet itself is cut from the fabric of cooking aprons. The Velcro fastener makes the watch useful and practical. The timepiece powered by the UNICO HUB1280 manufacture chronograph is a limited edition of 200 pieces.
