Hublot's Mastered the Difficult Craft of Sapphire Watches
If there’s one thing Hublot will always deliver, it’s materials mastery, and at Watches & Wonders 2025, they reminded everyone just how deep that well goes.
Ceramic was everywhere this year, with brands like Chanel and IWC making their plays, but no one flexed harder than the originators of the Big Bang themselves. From transparent sapphire to red ceramic and frosted carbon, Hublot’s approach to case innovation was on full display.
The Big Bang 20th Anniversary “Master of Sapphire” set was the centerpiece. Five Big Bangs, five different shades of sapphire, all housed in a transparent celebration box.
The cases are machined entirely out of colored sapphire — a notoriously difficult material to work with — and each one sits on a silicone-lined, color-matched transparent strap. The price? Around $600K. And yes, one was sold the very first day of the show.
Then came the Big Bang Unico Water Blue Sapphire, which glows like a glacier. It’s limited to 50 pieces, and while it’s technically a watch, it reads like a wrist-bound art object.
Rounding it out was the Big Bang 20th Anniversary “Materials and High Complication Set”, a five-watch masterclass in chronographs, tourbillons, and minute repeaters in every material from frosted carbon to red ceramic. It’s peak Hublot: Wild, excessive, and impossibly well-executed.
If I learned anything from Watches & Wonders this year, it’s that Hublot isn’t letting up on case experimentation. Their willingness to try new things, even if some find the designs too brash, is exactly what makes the brand so compelling. They do what they want, and they do it with color.
Also, not officially part of the novelties, but I got to try on Samuel Ross’s Tourbillon SR_A. A personal highlight and another reminder of the cutting-edge materials Hublot deploys.
