Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Full Sapphire: A Feat of Pure Sapphire
It is true that sometimes less is more – perhaps a lot more. With the Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Full Sapphire, Hublot has taken its Art of Fusion to its ultimate conclusion. A new integral bracelet and case custom-made from sapphire: this feat affirms yet again the technical proficiency and the exceptional expertise that Hublot has acquired in the working of sapphire.
7th April 2021 – For some, this will seem a natural development. For others, it will be a total disconnect. The final result is a little of each. The Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Full Sapphire is the fruit of a long tradition. It is rooted in 2016, and the Big Bang Unico Sapphire, the first sapphire watch. With this piece, Hublot translated the expertise it had developed in machining very hard materials to create an exceptional series of sapphire watches. Today, Hublot is pushing these boundaries even further: the first Big Bang with an integrated case and bracelet, both of which are made from sapphire. A natural (r)evolution and a highly technical feat in equal measure.
“For such an exceptional creation, we opted for the new Automatic Tourbillon calibre with its sapphire bridges, the transparency of which creates a stunning spectacle. The act of creating an integrated case and bracelet from sapphire was, however, deemed im possible. But we were the first brand to gain perfect mastery of sapphire, industrialising it and making it reproducible in series production. It took us five years to bring our first sapphire cases to life and almost as long for the bracelet. Producing both from sapphire and integrating them together is the pinnacle of the in depth work undertaken by all of Hublot’s teams. We are proud to be the ones writing the first lines in this new chapter in the history of materials”.
Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot CEO
Watchmakers are sometimes the only ones to know certain details of their watches. With a case and bracelet made entirely from sapphire, all secrets are revealed: the movement and casing fuse, and every aspect is visible.
The case of this new Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Full Sapphire has been reconstructed in its entirety to house the Automatic Tourbillon movement. The goal: to remove almost all of the visible screws, overhaul the general geometry of the case to integrate it with the sapphire bracelet, develop a new case profile to house the sapphire bracelet, and rework the bridges and main plates to give them the illusion of being suspended in space. Hublot also developed inserts and attachments which were reduced to their simplest expression, to allow light through every component. The case is thus composed of no fewer than 37 components, five of which are made solely from sapphire.
The bracelet was also a complex challenge: it alone comprises 165 components, 22 of which are made from sapphire. Each component had its own industrial process. A third of these were specially designed to provide unique harmony with the transparency of the case, and to offer fluidity and flexibility. Of particular note are the titanium inserts Hublot developed, ultra-reduced to ensure they do not protrude either side of each bracelet link – a first for the manufacture, and probably for watchmaking.
In terms of the movement, the HUB6035 automatic manufacture calibre, entirely designed and manufactured in-house, is the beating heart of the piece. It demonstrates a perfect balance between the micro-rotor at 12 o’clock and the tourbillon at 6 o’clock, and also with its three transparent sapphire bridges, exclusive to this new Big Bang. The components appear to be literally suspended in space. Each gear train is not only penetrated by light coming in from the dial side and passing through the skeleton movement on the other side: now, and for the first time, light enters the heart of the Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Full Sapphire from all directions. It is diffused, refracted, reflected, twisted and twirled – a fragment of light encapsulated on the wrist.
Big Bang Integral Tourbillon High Jewellery: Made Integrally From Diamond
“Every year, for the last 14 years, we have created a piece or a collection of exceptional High Jewellery. This year, the Big Bang Integral Tourbillon High Jewellery is our 30th unique piece of High Jewellery. Our primary goal: to surpass all our limits, to challenge ourselves to go beyond our initial expertise of watchmaking, and to achieve the exceptional with watches that are entirely set with precious stones and smash all the records in terms of working hours, the number of carats, the combination of types of setting, and selling point. In so doing, our watchmaking know-how—in terms of mechanisms and complications—and our identity—the fusion of materials— remain essential. Hundreds of hours are spent on preparation—from the design, with regard to setting the precious stones, to searching for and cutting the stones, and to the setting itself—because setting a watch like the Big Bang Integral Tourbillon High Jewellery is a true technical and aesthetic achievement. We never give in to doubt because we like to make the impossible possible.”
Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot CEO
The Big Bang Integral Tourbillon High Jewellery brings together in one piece everything that defines the identity and distinction of Hublot: its automatic tourbillon calibre, which was fully designed and manufactured in-house; its spectacular architecture set with 484 baguette-cut diamonds, totalling 31 carats; its fully integrated aesthetics from the case to the strap; and its 100% visible mechanics on the dial side thanks to the sapphire.
Big Bang Integral Tourbillon High Jewellery
Launched in 2020, the Big Bang Integral, with its bracelet integrated into the case, made its one-piece architecture an instantly adopted style. The model presents a visual balance, and proportions that are accentuated by the invisible setting work for its 484 baguette-cut diamonds. Its distinctive three-mesh bracelet with sharp edges alone accounts for 20.5 carats of diamonds (304 baguette-cut diamonds). The aesthetic and technical mastery of the piece goes all the way to its sapphire dial whose raised platform of baguette diamonds reveals a skeleton movement. In addition to its components that appear to be levitating, the 6H tourbillon features some atypical audacity: automatic rewinding, a micro-rotor that is visible on the dial-side and three transparent sapphire bridges, combined in a movement that was completely designed and manufactured in-house: the HUB6035. The Big Bang Integral Tourbillon High Jewellery is a fusion of the Manufacture’s innovation and know-how with High Jewellery in a single 43-mm-diameter piece, all in perfect balance.
So many millions, so many diamonds, in 14 years!
Since its One Million $ model in 2007, Hublot has created a unique piece of High Jewellery every year at a price equalling or exceeding one million dollars. Each time, the watchmaker combines the iconic design of one of its collections, one or more complications, with the most spectacular setting techniques, often scoring world firsts with its own records and overcoming, as usual, technical challenges that have never before been attempted. Among them, the 5 Million $ in 2012 with 14 months of work and 1,282 diamonds including more than 100 carats of baguette-cut diamonds. Or, in 2015 to celebrate the 10 years of the Big Bang, a collection of 10 Big Bang Unico models, each worth $1 million. While these exceptional pieces have mostly invisibly set baguette-cut white diamonds, the watchmaker has also ventured into pieces with black diamonds and coloured stones, creating a fusion of all kinds of stone cuts and settings—who could forget the Clou de Paris and rail setting of its anniversary collection in 2015?
Big Bang Unico Yellow Magic
HUBLOT invites you to enjoy the sunny side of life!
Although yellow is a primary colour that is abundant in nature, this colour is still difficult, nigh on impossible to reproduce in a material such as ceramic. As a real accelerator of innovation, and thanks to its expertise, the Hublot Manufacture has achieved the impossible by creating the first bright yellow ceramic. Your future is bright, thanks to Hublot’s Big Bang Unico Yellow Magic. Do you want this sunny yellow to brighten your day?
“With the launch of bright red ceramic, it was said that (almost) all Pantone colours were possible for our brightly coloured ceramic, a world-first which has been patented since 2018. The Big Bang Unico Yellow Magic is not only a perfect match with Pantone’s trending Illuminating Colours of the Year 2021, it is writing the future by making materials our field of innovation… a universe which knows no bounds. The strength of our innovation lies in our motto – “Be the first, be unique, be different”. The best is yet to come…”
Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot CEO
Sunny, radiant, optimistic…it makes you feel so good this happy pop of bright yellow!
In addition to its unmissable on-trend look, it is sporting the colours of the technological feat to which the Swiss watchmaker now holds the secret.
Innovation without limits
Yellow Magic, the name of the new brightly coloured high-tech ceramic created by Hublot which has been predestined since the arrival of its red ceramic in 2018. A unique process, a patented material, entirely developed and produced by the Manufacture’s R&D department and its Metallurgy & Materials laboratory. Four years of development to find the perfect balance of temperature and pressure enabling the ceramic to be sintered without burning the pigments. Hublot has met the challenge of retaining the properties and the colorimetry of the pigments while increasing the wear resistance of this ceramic which is harder than traditional ceramics (1350 HV versus 1200 HV). No more black and white! Thanks to Hublot ceramic is available in all colours – red, blue, beige, green and now yellow! With this perfect fusion of performance and stylish looks, Hublot is continuing to write the story of innovation, by continually reinventing material.
Big Bang Unico Yellow Magic
Available in a limited edition of 250 pieces, the solar power of its 42-mm case and its bezel shine in the light of this yellow ceramic. In an ultra-invigorating colour palette, the flange, indexes, minute and seconds counters, Arabic numerals and hands are all in this sunny yellow, to highlight the mechanism of the Unico HUB1280 manufacture movement and its column wheel, visible on the dial side through the sapphire crystal. The brightness continues right down to its lined and structured yellow rubber strap: the Big Bang Unico Yellow Magic is here to help you enjoy the sunny side of life!
Big Bang Sang Bleu II: A Trio In Ceramic
Hublot and London-based tattoo studio Sang Bleu are unveiling a trio of timepieces in ceramic – three limited edition Big Bang watches which explore new territories of colour.
Three new creations for their collaboration: Hublot and Sang Bleu are relighting their creative flame to produce a colourful new trio. The new Big Bang Sang Bleu II Ceramic watch will now be available in blue, grey and white. Adding to their technical achievement of having successfully created perfectly and evenly coloured ceramic, Hublot unveils a watch architecture that continues to defy tradition.
“With the Sang Bleu II All Black launched last year, we opened the door to working in ceramic with the models that we have been developing with Sang Bleu for five years now. Thesethree new versions go further still. They are the logical continuation of the All Black original version and open up new perspectives on this piece which still remains unique, and whose three dimensional architecture is seen here in a new light.”
Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot CEO
“To be able to work long term with a manufacture is a privilege and an honour. Hublot and Sang Bleu have been pushing artistic and watchmaking boundaries since 2016 and this freedom has enabled us to continually explore new innovations. These three Big Bang Sang Bleu II versions are the fresh fruit of this labour. Introducing these three colours of ceramic opens up brand new perspectives on the architecture of the dial, the set of hands, the case. The experience and the impact of each piece is brand new, ope ning up new perspectives on the way in which a timepiece completes and enhances the identity of the wearer.”
Maxime Plescia Buchi, Founder of Sang Bleu and Hublot ambassador
With its sharp angles, its sculptural case, its multiple facets as if cut in diamond, the Big Bang Sang Bleu II designed by Maxime Plescia-Buchi and Hublot has the ability to amaze and astound. Combining the creativity of the tattoo artist with the technical expertise of the Nyon-based manufacture, the piece displays a radical, complex design, which demands a closer look in order to fully appreciate its multidimensional appearance. The case, bezel, case middle, strap and dial have been constructed with their own geometry and, at the same time, they come together with a seamless fluidity.
With these new grey, blue and white versions, the Big Bang Sang Bleu II displays a new temperament. In the grey ceramic version, the piece offers a modern look reminiscent of the great urban structures at the heart of 21st-century megapolises. The shades of grey that illumine the ceramic evoke steel, titanium and aluminium in turn, strongly accentuating the profoundly architectural design of the Big Bang Sang Bleu II.
The blue ceramic version is a clear nod to the name of the piece – a royal blue, an echo of the term “blue blood” (sang bleu) which is used in historical literature to describe the nobility of a lineage. Between day and night, light and shade, the piece offers the perfect blend of tones, a real technical feat for a material as difficult to master as ceramic, which is always susceptible to tiny variations when it is fired at very high temperatures. Here, as in the grey version, Hublot and Maxime Plescia-Buchi developed an approach where the dominant colour of the piece echoes the white and luminescent indices and hands. The geometric structure of the hands appears in all its complexity, hypnotic as it is, in constant movement, and forming, for a few fleeting moments at midday, a complete work in perfect alignment and symmetry.
The third version appears simple yet enigmatic. A mirror image of the All Black version which was released last year, this “All White” version features a dazzling play of light in place of the original shade. The faceted architecture of the bezel, case and strap invites closer inspection to appreciate the subtle angles and curves of the piece – the watch is a powerful creation, a ray of light to be worn on the skin, like the tattoos that Maxime Plescia-Buchi uses in his graphic art.
Each of these new Big Bang Sang Bleu II will be available as a limited edition of 200 pieces. They all share a 45-mm case made entirely from high-tech ceramic, housing the UNICO Manufacture self-winding chronograph. Entirely developed in-house by Hublot’s engineers and watchmakers, comprising 330 components and equipped with a flyback function, this model offers a 3-day power reserve. Each piece is equipped with its corresponding rubber strap, featuring the One Click system which enables it to be changed instantly with no need for any tools.
