Designed in the colors of Brazil’s flag, the “Big Bang Official Watch of the 2014 World Cup Brazil” has an easier nickname: “Soccer Bang.” It is powered by a new manufacture movement, the automatic HUB1260. This caliber is based on Hublot’s Unico movement, which is unusual in that it has the column wheel and dual coupling on the dial side.
The brightly colored bi-retrograde display is found on the top half of the dial: two center-mounted hands, counting minutes and seconds. The display for these hands times 45-minute intervals, making it easy to time the halves of a soccer match. The display also includes 15 minutes’ added time, so you can time events up to 60 minutes. The pushers on the right side of the case start, stop and reset the counters like a conventional chronograph. Additionally, the start/stop counter also controls a window at 12 o’clock, indicating first half, half-time, second half, or end of match. The markers on the chronograph display match the two hands: yellow for minutes and green for seconds. A display for the running hours and minutes is visible in the bottom half of the dial, with small seconds at 9 o’clock.
The HUB1260 has 385 components and 44 jewels. Its power reserve is approximately 72 hours. The watch comes on a ribbed black rubber strap and is water-resistant to 100 meters. The case is 45 mm in diameter. Hublot uses “King Gold” – an alloy of gold and 5 percent titanium – for its most exclusive version of the watch, limited to 100 pieces. The version in ceramic and carbon fiber is a limited edition of 200 pieces.
