Introducing The Big Bang Integral Minute Repeater Ceramic the first Ceramic Minute Repeater in the world, the first

The Low-Down

As a material, ceramic presents some teething challenges for the watch creator so that there aren’t many companies that will do a lot with it, or anything too complicated. For one, it is an extremely hard material to machine and to finish. Colouring too presents difficulties as the base expectation is nothing short of perfect homogeneity. Anything short of that requires the whole laborious process to be restarted from scratch, patching is not an option.

For this reason, Hublot is trumpeting yet another first in the company’s healthy list of materials innovations, this time producing a tourbillon minute repeater fashioned entirely in ceramic. There have been ceramic minute repeaters from other manufactures, but in a choice of black or white, the Big Bang Integral Minute Repeater Ceramic is the first minute repeater to feature a ceramic case with integrated ceramic bracelet.

As Hublot points out, it took 20 years of experience working with ceramic to come to this: it is not enough that ceramic parts should be fashioned with precision, the water resistance of the timepiece also has to be factored, and for all minute repeaters without exception, the quality of the sound.

For good measure, Hublot has added visual spectacle to the aural treat, in the shape of a tourbillon, here housed in its manual-wind MHUB801 with a lusty power reserve of 80 hours.

Both black and white versions of the Big Bang Integral Minute Repeater Ceramic are available in limited editions of 18 pieces each; it is also the first time a Big Bang Integral Ceramic is available in black.

IMHO

Ceramic being such a hard material should make a better amplifier of sound; where our ears can tell the difference is another matter. It does make for a watch with a different colourway from metal and something very light and wearable that should, barring shattering impact, ride comfortably above the scratching of everyday existence and remain pristine. The Big Bang Integral moreover with its integrated bracelet comes off a might dressier than its rubber-strapped siblings, while bearing the company’s signature Big Bang face.

Tech Specs

Movement: Manual-wind MHUB8001.H1.RH, cathedral minute repeater, 3Hz, power reserve of 80 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, tourbillon, minute repeater
Case: 43mm ceramic case in black or white, case height of 14.15mm, water resistant to 30 meters, tourbillon
Strap: Ceramic bracelet with titanium clasp
Price: USD 295,000 (limited edition of 18 pieces for each variant)

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