With LVMH Watch Week 2022 soon upon us, Hublot has announced a slew of new models that it will be launching at the virtual fair.
The new releases include a trio of slimmed-down Big Bang Integrals, three new Big Bang Sang Bleu II limited editions, an Orange Carbon edition of the Big Bang Unico Golf, and a new collection of yellow-gold models paying homage to the brand’s origins as a sports-chic innovator.
Back at LVMH Watch Week 2020, Hublot launched the Big Bang Integral, a line of automatic chronographs housed in a 42mm case with seamlessly flowing integrated bracelet. Case materials have included titanium, sapphire crystal, various colored ceramics, and King Gold. Now, Hublot is offering a simplified and slimmed-down Big Bang Integral with three new “Time Only” editions, each presented in a more wearable 40mm case fitted with, of course, a three-link integrated bracelet.
The “Time Only” moniker is a bit of a red herring, though: Besides hours, minutes, and seconds, there is also a date window at 6 o’clock, with the date ring and all its digits visible through the sapphire crystal dial. Available in titanium, 18K yellow gold, and black ceramic – the latter is limited to 250 pieces – the Big Bang Integral Time Only is powered by the compact MHUB1710 automatic movement.
Hublot has collaborated with renowned Swiss tattoo artist Maxime Plescia-Büchi for the past seven years, transposing the Sang Bleu Tattoo studio founder’s distinct, geometric designs to the dials and cases of several of its watches. This year, Hublot has continued its collaboration with Plescia-Büchi by releasing three new Big Bang Sang Bleu II limited editions in scratch-resistant Magic Gold (100 pieces), black ceramic (250 pieces), and green ceramic (200 pieces).
Once again, Plescia-Büchi’s angular “grapho-typo-tattoo” designs infuse the time and chronograph displays, 45mm case, bezel, and rubber strap of these tattoo-on-the-wrist timekeepers. And on show through the skeletonized dial as well as through the display back is the HUB1240 Unico manufacture, automatic, flyback chronograph movement with column wheel.
Five years ago, Hublot introduced the Hublot Big Bang Unico Golf in partnership with ace golfer Dustin Johnson, the first mechanical watch that can track your score over an 18-hole round of golf. Known for its colorful 45mm carbon and texalium case, the Big Bang Unico Golf is now available in an eye-catching orange hue, following on from previous editions in gray, black, yellow, and blue.
Weighing less than 100g, the watch shows which hole you’re on, how many shots you’ve taken on that hole, and your cumulative score for the round thanks to a specially developed module operated by putter-shaped pushers. This mechanism can be seen in action through the openwork dial.
When it comes to gold, in recent years, Hublot has tended to focus on its innovative alloys like King Gold and Magic Gold that have managed to instill novel properties into this noble metal.
But four decades ago, the brand was also one of the pioneers of the sport-chic aesthetic when it presented the first watch to combine a case in a more traditional gold alloy – yellow gold – on a black natural rubber strap.
Hublot has decided to tap into its ground-breaking past by bringing out no fewer than six new creations in yellow gold, each one marking a milestone along Hublot’s journey in terms of the brand’s models or craftsmanship.
First up, there is the Hublot Classic Fusion Chronograph. It is the first time this bicompax is being presented in a 42mm, yellow-gold case, and it is truly stunning. Next up is the Big Bang Integral. Like the Classic Fusion Chronograph, this watch is sized at 42mm, but the case, bezel, and integrated bracelet are all made from yellow gold. There is also a diamond-set iteration of the Hublot Big Bang Integral and an ultimate Haute Joaillerie version. Hublot’s contemporary collections are also accounted for, with a Big Bang Unico – the first to feature a 42mm case entirely in yellow gold with a rubber strap and Unico movement – and the Spirit of Big Bang, with its 42mm tonneau case housing a skeletonized MHUB4700 chronograph movement.
