40 YEARS ANNIVERSARY
PRODUCTS
With its innovative design – inspired by the Classic Original but revolutionised – the Big Bang is THE iconic Hublot model and has been its best-seller since it was introduced in 2005. True to its name, its arrival caused a real "big bang" that shook up the watchmaking world and discarded convention. Hublot’s futuristic vision and the ideal embodiment of the Art of Fusion, the Big Bang Original unquestionably ushered in a new era in terms of watch design. Its name expresses Hublot’s core values, by evoking the origin of the universe, the explosion when all matter was combined as a single entity in the original fusion.
Launched at Baselworld in 2008, the Classic Fusion watch is a modern reinterpretation of the first innovative designs of the 1980's, which gave life to the original Big Bang. Its sporting yet chic aesthetic, with a satin-finished bezel, a pared-down dial and a refined profile, revealed a more traditional temperament than the Big Bang, while echoing its distinctive look. The range has since become a timeless must-have, integrating diverse features and a variety of diameters, materials and vibrant colours. A unisex icon of the Art of Fusion, the versatile elegance of the Classic Fusion today lends itself to all interplays of materials and designs.
Presented in 2013, the Big Bang Unico fused the inimitable style of the Hublot icon and the first movement manufactured in-house, the Unico chronograph. By using the new Hublot proprietary engine, this exciting Big Bang line hit hard and showed the brand’s ambitions in manufacturing development. The radical design of the Big Bang evolved to accommodate this all-new chronograph movement. In addition to its functionality – a 3-day power reserve and flyback function to stop and reset the chronograph to zero – the Big Bang Unico displayed a new identity, with its mechanism visible on the dial side. This all-new construction was emphasised by the open dial with round figures, housed in an imposing case with round pushers and a crown over-moulded with rubber. The strap, fitted with the "One Click" easy interchangeability system, came in structured and ribbed rubber for the first time. Five years later, the Big Bang was redesigned to adapt to all wrist sizes and appeal to both men and women alike. Its new unisex case, reduced from a 45mm to 42mm diameter, incorporated an entirely recalibrated version of the Unico movement, whose technical innovations were subject to four patents.
Presented at Baselworld in 2014, the “Spirit of Big Bang” watch was first and foremost a new and original form for the Hublot range: a Big Bang in a barrel shape. In the spirit of the original, the identifying codes remained: six titanium H-shaped screws on the bezel, lugs on either side, a crown moulded with rubber, luminescent hands and index, and the strap attachments. All the identifiers of the Big Bang were present, integrated into a barrel case built like a “sandwich” offering limitless combinations of materials, colours and finishes.
In this watch, with its simultaneously classic and modern form, the Art of Fusion was also expressed via a blend of precious, high-tech or natural metals. It incorporates a “Hublotised” El Primero (5Hz) skeleton chronograph, recognised as one of the best on the market, reworked in its architecture and finishes in collaboration with the Zenith Manufacture. In 2020, Hublot presented the Spirit of Big Bang Meca-10, which revealed a Meca-10 calibre entirely reworked for this model, embracing the contours of its barrel shape.
To design its new Manufacture movement, Hublot drew inspiration from children's construction sets. Modern and different, the Big Bang Meca-10 incorporated a skeleton calibre movement, inspired by Meccano kits, with a 10-day power reserve. Its atypical and innovative architecture, designed like a building set, revealed a rack system on the dial side with two barrels parallel to the power reserve indicator, and two racks sliding on a horizontal axis. This model – fitted with a mechanical manual-winding movement featuring a 10-day power reserve indicator – was a further embodiment of the brand’s technical and aesthetical audacity. It set a new standard for the industry of the future with, as a bonus, incredible commercial success in the manual- winding watch sector.