Hublot's New Big Bang Tourbillon Watch is a Gem
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I, for one, hold fond memories of that short-lived period of the late 90s when transparent casings took over the world. The most famous example was the Crayola-hued iMac G3 range – now a Y2K mood board staple – but the trend spread far and wide. Nuts and bolts never had it so good. Until now.
Today, at the first day of LVMH Watch Week in New York, Hublot announced its new Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Green Saxem. It’s not the first time that the Swiss brand has experimented with translucent technology, but this might be Hublot's most striking X-rayed timepiece so far.
Much like the yellow neon version that preceded it in 2023, the latest model takes advantage of a space-age material called ‘SAXEM’ to take on its intense, emerald-like green colouring. It stands for 'Sapphire Aluminium oXide and rare Earth Mineral', which is an alloy of aluminium oxide that was first conceived for use with satellites and lasers.
The good news is that SAXEM is hardy. The bad news – for anyone with hundreds of thousands of pounds burning a hole in their pocket, anyway – is that the timepiece is limited to just 18 pieces at Hublot boutiques.
But it's not the only new model from the brand's flagship range to make waves at LVMH Watch Week.
To mark 12 years since the release of the first Spirit of the Big Bang watch, Hublot has announced three new coloured ceramics: 'Sand Beige', 'Dark Green' and 'Sky Blue', all limited to 200 pieces.
Powered by the in-house automatic skeleton chronograph calibre HUB4700, you can take a peek at the intricate workings of the movement through the open dial and sapphire display back. The black rubber straps all feature a coloured central inlay that mirrors their respective ceramic cases.
Then there was a selection of three Big Bang MECA-10 42mm watches, released in 'King Gold', 'Titanium' and 'Frosted Carbon'.
Finally, we also saw the Spirit of Big Bang Year of the Snake timepiece, limited to 88 pieces to mark Chinese new year.
You can take a closer look at them all here.
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