At the start of last year, Hublot unveiled its take on the surging trend of integrated-bracelet sports watches, aptly named the Big Bang Integral. This year, as part of LVMH Watch Week, the luxury watchmaker revisits the ceramic version of the model with three new colorways. Joining the original, all-black edition are a white, navy blue and gray model, each continuing to affirm, as Hublot calls it, the brand’s “integral single-color, single-material style.”
Like the original models from 2020, the new watches represent an extension of the original Big Bang Unico 42 design, inclusive of its 42-mm case, round “porthole” bezel with its now-familiar eight H-shaped screws, and sharp, alternating brushed finishing on its top facets and polished finishing on its sides.
The foremost defining feature, and the one that gives the watch its “Integral” designation, is the all-ceramic bracelet that’s integrated into its base design. Ceramic, among its various attributes, is about twice as hard as steel and about a third lighter, all while being warmer and generally softer to the touch.
Rounding out the case on its right side are the prominent, stylized crown and elongated, rectangular pushers, both of which are accented with a soft rubber for “added user comfort.”
The color-coordinated skeletonized dial under the sapphire crystal has a primarily matte appearance. While the watch models aren’t exactly monochrome, they do certainly indicate what looks like a growing trend — among all the LVMH brands — of creating more monochrome-like looks, with various watches from sister brand Bulgari demonstrating as much.
Along the dial’s outer edge is a matte-finished 60-minute ring, which is connected to the skeletonized inner part of the dial by elongated, applied indices, each filled with luminous material. The skeletonized sword hands for the hour and minute and the tip of the chronograph seconds hand are also luminous-coated. The 60-minute chronograph subdial at 3 o’clock — integrated with a smaller sapphire glass window and a revolving date window underneath it — is balanced by a running seconds subdial at 9 o’clock.
The movement inside is the in-house, skeletonized Unico HUB1280 caliber. The automatic mechanism is equipped with a chronograph function driven by a column wheel and a horizontal double-clutch. The self-winding movement, which comprises 354 components including 43 jewels, also hosts a 72-hour, or three-day, power reserve in its mainspring barrel.
All of the new Big Bang Integral watches are available through Hublot and Hublot-authorized boutiques, all priced the same as the all-black original, at $23,100. However, unlike the all-black model, which was limited to 500 pieces, no such limit has been explicitly placed on these three models.
To learn more and inquire for purchase, visit Hublot’s website, here.
