New From LVMH Watch Week 2020 Dubai – Hublot Big Bang Integral

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hublot is what it is today because of the unique approach the Swiss Haute Horlogerie icon takes for making its watches. The brand was practically unknown to the world of watch connoisseurs and collectors up until the year 2005. To put things in perspective, let’s just say that the oldest watchmaker in the world, Royal Blancpain was founded in 1735. When compared to Hublot, there is a time gap of two and a half centuries between the two. For the first twenty-odd years, Hublot functioned as the brainchild of the founder and visionary watchmaker Carlo Crocco. Crocco left his previous employment in 1976 to make a name for himself. This pursuit of his dream led him to found Hublot in 1980.

The latest launch from Hublot at the LVMH Watch Week 2020 held in Dubai was something similar. Hublot finally took the time and designed a bracelet for its watches and with it launched a completely new line of timepieces, the Integral.  

The Big Bang Integral 

For a long time, Hublot patrons have been longing for a bracelet that they can call their own. The Swiss watchmaker has been primarily known for its outstanding rubber straps. But it is high time the brand got a bracelet in its arsenal as well. Perhaps, the year 2020 seems to come as the bearer of the good news.

The newly launched Big Bang Integral line introduces five watches. Three of these are available in titanium, King Gold, and black ceramic, whilst the other two are the Titanium Pave and King Gold Pave, watches that redefine pedantry with their 1086 studded diamonds.

• Hublot Integral Titanium Ref. 451.NX.1170.NX
• Hublot Integral King Gold Ref. 451.OX.1180.OX
• Hublot Integral All Black Ref. 451.CX.1140.CX
• Hublot Integral Titanium Pave Ref. 451.NX.1170.NX.3704
• Hublot Integral King Gold Pave Ref. 451.OX.1180.OX.3704

Inside The Watch 

The Integral collection houses the Unico Manufacture HUB 1280. The in-house automatic chronograph movement has a column-wheel mechanism offering up to 72 hours of power reserve. The Pave variants, on the other hand, take the iconic Big Bang grandiose to a whole new level. Their bezel consists of 120 diamonds while the rest 828 can be found all over the equally impressive bracelet.

While the timepieces differ from each other in terms of the material used, features such as the anti-glare treated sapphire crystal, matte black skeleton dial, a 42mm case diameter, and 100-meter water resistance are regular throughout the collection.

The showstopper, without an ounce of doubt, is the new ‘Integral’ bracelet. This is a first for the Swiss Haute Horlogerie maestro as never in the past has Hublot indulged in metal bracelets. It took quite the effort to make a bracelet that could handle the idiosyncratic design of the entire Big Bang Integral gamut. The links too, have been given a fair share of chamfering and beveling, just like the case.

In the history of luxury watches, there are only a handful of bracelets that have made headlines or are so unique that they have been given names of their own and the Integral collection definitely seems to have one.