Hublot has long since demonstrated that it knows its way around ceramic, one of the horological world's least tamable fabrications. Now, the Swiss watch company is trotting out a new timepiece that speaks to its mastery of ceramics by way of its latest Big Bang watch.
The new Hublot Big Bang Integral Ceramic Tourbillon Minute Repeater is the first of its kind. Never before has a cathedral minute tourbillon repeater been created entirely in ceramic, according to Hublot.
To make clear to even us watch-illiterate folks, what makes this accomplishment so impressive, you must understand just how challenging it is to manipulate ceramic, one of the hardest (and yet most delicate) materials used to create timepieces.
Ceramic, which has to be fired at a high temperature to achieve a proper finish, really doesn't want to do what you want it to do and it definitely isn't easy to finish, what with all the delicate elements demanded of fine timepieces. Even an even coloring is difficult to guarantee.
Hublot boasts that not only are its entirely ceramic Big Bangs perfectly color-matched, but they're also water-resistant and create a "pure and crystal-clear sound."
If the audible ticking of a watch seems like a meaningless detail, you must not be familiar with the constraints of operating in this rarified timepiece market.
These Big Bangs, powered by the bespoke tourbillon housed inside Hublot's MHUB801 calibre, being part of Hublot's Integral Ceramic collection, they boast ceramic bezels, casebacks, and bracelets to match the case. The darker iteration is also the first black Integral Ceramic to ever be produced.
"The first ceramic minute repeater in the world, the first Integral Big Bang in black ceramic, the first with a tourbillon: Hublot is pushing the limits of fine watch making far, very far," CEO Ricardo Guadalupe said.
Note that while Hublot's new Big Bang is the first fully ceramic timepiece in its lineup, it isn't the first-ever entirely ceramic watch (though it is perhaps the world's first all-ceramic minute repeater). That honor belongs to Chanel, of all companies, which debuted a totally ceramic J12 Series timepiece in 2000.
Like Hublot's other limited edition ceramic watches (e.g. Arturo Fuente, Yohji Yamamoto), these Big Bangs are strictly limited, only offered in an edition of 36 units total.
