Introducing: Hublot’s 20th Anniversary Big Bang Releases
What We Know
It has been 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang. Oh, wait, sorry — wrong Big Bang. It’s actually been 20 years since the first Hublot Big Bang was introduced by industry veteran Jean Claude Biver, in a big move that completely set the course for the company’s DNA and identity for the next two decades. It was big, bold, and continued to double down on the mix of rubber straps with many different case materials that the brand was always known for doing. It was certainly one of the marketing case studies of the watch industry in the early 2000s, and whether you like the brand or not, it’s an important story in Jean Claude Biver’s legendary career.
For an anniversary year like this one, you know Hublot is going to go out with a bang. A big one. So Hublot takes a little bit of old and a little bit of new to launch three 20th-anniversary collections, all very distinct from each other. The first one is a little bit of a throwback, with a collection of five different limited edition chronographs that take the in-house Big Bang Unico flyback chronograph movement and throws them into some 2005 Big-Bang-inspired designs. A newly redesigned case serves as an homage to those original models, and the immediate giveaway to the tribute is the prominent knurling on the bezel edge.
The dials are engraved with a carbon-fibre-inspired motif to look just like the originals. The rubber strap also gets a treaded pattern inspired by the OGs. The 43mm case has a thickness of 13.2mm, with a water resistance of 100m. Produced in five combinations of various materials, the titanium case/ceramic bezel model is limited to 500 pieces and priced at $20,800. The combination 18K King Gold case and ceramic bezel model is limited to 250 pieces and priced at $38,400. A very bright and sanguine Red Magic ceramic version is limited to 100 pieces and priced at $31,800, while the all-black ceramic version will be made in a 500-piece edition and priced at $25,200. Last but not least, the full satin-finished Magic Gold 100-piece edition will be priced at $40,500.
Next up, we have something that’s kind of the polar opposite of the aggressive carbon-fiber racing designs with a whole rainbow of sapphire-cased Big Bang MECA-10 watches. The Big Bang 20th Anniversary “Master of Sapphire” set features five 44mm sapphire or SAXEM-cased watches: a clear sapphire case, a Water Blue sapphire case, a Deep Blue sapphire case, a Purple sapphire case, and a Neon Yellow SAXEM case.
Many of these colorways we’ve seen before. In fact, the brand is essentially using this set as a celebration of the many developments in colored sapphire they’ve made. But this is the first time we’ve seen these cases paired with the MECA-10 movement, also a novel creation from the brand with a unique skeletonized architecture and 10 days of power reserve. We’ve seen quite a few MECA-10 releases this year already, but this is certainly a very interesting visual combination. Now, just before you get excited to pick your favorite one, these five will actually all be sold as a set, and five sets will be produced in total. They will deservedly come in a unique display case, with a backlit panel that will illuminate the vivid colors of the cases when opened. The set will be priced at — I hope you’re sitting down — $605,000. But you get a watch for each day of the work week!
Think Hublot’s finished? Try again. Rounding out the 20th Anniversary celebrations for Watches and Wonders is the Big Bang 20th Anniversary “Materials and High Complications” unique set. It’s kind of like a Now That’s What I Call A Hublot! album, with a bunch of the greatest hits from the brand, all piece uniques, forming one unique set of five watches. I feel like I’m going crazy making a statement like this, but the most conservative watch in this set is the Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Sapphire. This unique piece, together with the Red Magic ceramic version, features the in-house HUB6035 caliber with a microrotor at 12 o’clock and a tourbillon at 6 o’clock within a 44mm by 14.4mm case. The power reserve is 72 hours, and the tourbillon beats away at 21,600 VpH.
Next up, we once again see the newest shade of light and bright Water Blue sapphire in the Big Bang Tourbillon Chronograph, with a manufacture manual winding — monopusher — tourbillon chronograph movement set inside a 44mm by 14.4mm case. The power reserve is rated to an impressive 115 hours, though it’s no MECA-10.
Rounding out the set are some minute repeaters. The Big Bang Integrated Tourbillon Cathedral Minute Repeater in Blue Texalium might be one of the loudest designs to ever exist for a minute repeater complication, one that I typically associate with many classical designs and case shapes, certainly not a full bracelet made out of a deep-blue woven carbon-fiber-like material. With a cathedral minute repeater, the “cathedral” gongs are much longer in length than traditional minute repeater gongs, and often wrap around the caliber twice. The difficulty, of course, in this arrangement is to have these gongs freestanding and stable while inside the movement, as they have to be uninterrupted for the best sound. The HUB8001 caliber has a power reserve of 72 hours and a frequency of 21,600 VpH. Within the 43mm Texalium case, the watch produces a very different tone than traditional repeaters in metal cases.
If that wasn’t complicated enough for you, with a tourbillon and a cathedral minute repeater in one, the final piece in this set also adds a monopusher chronograph. Set in a 45mm frosted carbon case, it’s just a bit of everything thrown into one watch.
Now how much does this all cost, you might ask? I hope you’re sitting down. This unique set of five watches will be priced at $1,099,000. Not chump change.
What We Think
Phew, that’s a lot of stuff for the 20th Anniversary of the Big Bang. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure what Hublot was going to do for this milestone year. Was it going to be a completely revamped Big Bang design? Or a victory lap to celebrate some of the classics? We certainly got a lot of models in this celebration.
The strategy of Hublot to bring back the original styling of the 2005 Big Bang in five new watches certainly makes sense — it’s a design language that is unmistakably Hublot. While I’ll be the first to confess that the carbon fiber and tire tread aesthetic is very much not my style, I still appreciate the execution of this 20th-anniversary collection. Re-editions are always a tricky thing to manage — how much do you actually just lift 1:1 from the original? I always like re-editions with a modern twist, and pairing the original Big Bang aesthetic (the knurled bezel is my favorite touch) with the Unico flyback movement is a very good decision. I’ll maintain that the Unico is one of the most pleasing chronograph calibers to actually interact with and use, and it’s a good way to offer something new to the table that you wouldn’t be able to achieve with the original classic. Still, five individual models with varying quantities of production is quite a few Big Bangs. In total, the five limited editions combined are 1450 pieces. Considering that the least expensive one is around twenty thousand dollars, that’s a lot.
In regards to the two sets — the set of five MECA-10 Sapphire/SAXEM as well as the million-dollar unique set of five high complications — while I appreciate the watches individually, I’m a bit intrigued by the curation. The MECA-10 set makes more sense — it’s for someone who wants to collect the rainbow. But with the “Materials and High Complications” set, it’s a bit of a weird mix. I’d understand the set a bit better if there was a more diverse offering. But we have two watches with identical movements in the sapphire and red ceramic tourbillons, and in a set of just five watches, it feels a bit odd. Perhaps what’s throwing me off is that the five pieces placed together are visually extremely incoherent. That doesn’t discredit any of the individual watches but may be what’s giving me the feeling that they seem a bit random. At the same time, given that it’s one unique set with a big bang of a price tag, could it be that this set was put together with one specific customer in mind? I guess we’ll find out depending on how fast this set is sold!
The Basics
Brand: Hublot
Collections: Big Bang 20th Anniversary Edition; Big Bang 20th Anniversary “Master of Sapphire” Set; Big Bang 20th Anniversary “Materials and High Complications” Unique Set
Diameter: 43-45mm
Thickness: 13.2mm-16.8mm
Case Material: Various
Dial Color: Various
Indexes: Applied
Lume: Yes
Water Resistance: Various
Strap/Bracelet: Rubber, with the exception of one Texalium bracelet model
Pricing & Availability
Price: $20,800-$40,500 (Big Bang 20th Anniversary Limited Editions); $605,000 (Sapphire Set); $1,099000 (High Complications Set)
Availability: Now
Limited Edition: Yes
For more, click here.
Stay tuned for more over the coming days from Watches and Wonders – you can follow all of the show’s new releases right here.
Hodinkee
