Buffy Acacia
For better or worse, Hublot is a brand with associations. Athletes, Jean-Claude Biver, and experimental case materials are some of the things that come to mind when Hublot is mentioned, but the Big Bang is there. It’s wild to think that Big Bang exists for less than half the brand’s lifetime, but it’s still a catalogue’s pride and focus. Twenty years later, the Big Bang was a symbol of Hibro’s Titanic location in the watch industry, and had an indisputable influence on watch culture. It’s a watch celebrated with Hublot’s watches and Wonders 2025 release, including special tribute works, but it all started with early noughties…
origin
The first Hulot watches in 1980 took advantage of the success of Gérald Genta-designed watches such as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus. Hublot stood out as an innovator as the first luxury watch brand to use rubber straps, but it faded relatively obscurely as a dripping release rather than flowing. Jean-Claude Biver met the brand’s founder, Carlo Crocco, and became CEO in 2004, serving as president of Omega. The Big Bang was officially launched at Baselworld 2005.
The first Big Bang was a complete reinterpretation of Hublot in 1980, amplifying its most powerful features into an all-out explosion of adrenaline. Between the effect of carbon weave on the dial and the bold chronograph features, the smooth lines of the porthole bezel and its scallop rugs gave a new lease in life. The mid-2000s were full of brave and cutting-edge efforts, and Hublot Big Bang captured its true nature perfectly. It wasn’t long before the brand’s first in-house movement came, and Hublot didn’t settle for simple things. The Unico Calibre 1242 was a flyback chronograph from the start, and its modular escape meant that further complications could be easily developed and implemented in later models. A 2-second chronograph of Tour Villion, GMT and Split was immediately followed. He was also an early adopter of silicon balance springs, and the 72-hour power reserve was ahead of the curve for the time being.
The birth of the art of fusion
Given the first release that combines a gold case with a rubber strap, the Hublot spirit is classified as an art of fusion. By combining rare materials and using unknowns in watchmaking, the watch has been a challenging norm for decades. One of the early examples was from Hublot Mag Bang. In 2007, aluminum and magnesium alloys were used in their cases, bezels and even movements. For the Big Bang at the time, 78 grams was a fundamentally light watch. Hublot called this alloy Hublonium. This is the material that will come back to life in later releases. 2007 was a big year. This is because Hublot also released a $1 million Big Bang. TourbillonWatch was hit with an invisible set of baguette diamonds, winning the Jewelry category at the GPHG Awards. Using gusts of the Big Bang, we experimented with titanium, ceramic, carbon, tungsten, and even Kevlar as case materials.
Hublot may have created its own name by using unusual materials, but it wasn’t creating anything completely new until 2011. Magic Gold has earned the incredible scratch resistance name, and Hublot says it’s completely scratch-resistant despite being a true 18K gold alloy with 75% elemental gold. The remaining alloys combine gold with boron carbide ceramics to achieve their incredible hardness. The only downside is that Magic Gold is very dark and doesn’t have the same boastful charm as Yellow and Rose Gold, but of course you’re still getting a luxurious weight.
One of Hublot’s biggest revolutions was the 2016 announcement of Big Bang Saphire. It was not the first brand that Alain Silberstein and Richard Mille made the pioneer sapphire case in the area, but the Big Bang Sapphire was one of a considerable number of sapphire watches. The first limited edition cost 57,900 US$, but there were countless many in the various shapes and colors.
The Big Bang Spirit appeared in 2014, and since Biver took over, it marked the new chapter of Hublot as a much larger new case shape first. Tonneau’s silhouette captures many of the Big Bang characters, but it also focuses on a higher level of luxury, with more classes and generally more levels of luxury. It also competes more directly with Richard Mill, one of the world’s most exclusive true competitors in the world of luxurious and tough sports watches.
Big Bang Celebrity Status
If you’re wondering where his close relationship with football began, it was relatively early during Jean-Claude Biver’s reign. In 2008, he was signed with Manchester United for £4 million. This was the same year that Carlo Crocco sold the entire Hublot to the LVMH Group. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he handed out the clock to the judges as the official timekeeper. He was also the official watchmaker of Formula 1 in the same year. In 2011, the sponsorship moved on and off Ferrari for ten years, during which many co-models of Ferrari were released. A rather shocking yet effective sports marketing came when former CEO and formula legend Bernie Eckcrestone was robbed at a 200k Hublot Big Bang on the wrist. Hublot jumped at the opportunity, using Ecclestone’s wounded face, “Look at what people do for Hublot.”
Of course, celebrity support was important to Hublot Big Bang’s success. Instead of limiting its scope to athletes and actors, Hublot is represented by a wide variety of artistic and industry experts, including musicians, visual artists, chefs, lifestyle brands, and climate activists. Some of the biggest names on Hublot’s ambassador list are not merely famous people, but living legends. There’s Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, and Killian Mbappe, one of the best football forwards currently playing for Real Madrid. Novak Jjokovic represents the peak of tennis and ranks number one in 428 weeks at the time of writing. Murakami Takahashi is a wonderful and destructive artist, and his work is likely to have come across, and along with Ray Chan, he is divided into the K-Pop world.
Some of Hublot’s best big bang models are also the direct result of artist collaboration. Murakami Takahashi’s model is a stunning display of work in sapphire and gem settings, and the Big Bang Sun Blue references take the signature tattoo style of Maxime Plescia-Büchi and adapt to a masterpiece of case architecture and dial layout. Novak Djokovic of Big Bang Unico is also pretty crazy, with a combined case made from melted tennis rackets and polo shirts that Serbian champions use personally.
future
Given that the 20th anniversary of Hublot Big Bang has just arrived and a series of commemorative limited editions have been released, after many experiments, you may find yourself asking what the watch will explore. Big Bang Unicom Magic Ceramic was the first world in the world to produce bicolor, hilarious ceramic bezels. Well, there was a recent reform with Julien Tornare, who was appointed CEO of Hublot last July. He is a self-proclaimed “trans” and his energetic management style is already felt within the company, so we can certainly hope for some major changes to the future of the Big Bang.
