LVMH Watch Week: Hublot Pens Its Legacy in Yellow Gold

As one of the more energetic watch manufactures, Hublot has crossed many milestones since its founding in 1980, from mastering skeletonization, gem-setting to working with new materials and developing its own movements. There’s more than enough material here for the brand to pool together a “greatest hits” collection comprising its pillar models, all in yellow gold with black accents, and some with a generous topping of precious stones.

The Yellow Gold Collection that defines Hublot’s past and anchors its future comprises six watches drawn from four of its primary collections: the Classic Fusion Chronograph, Big Bang Integral, Big Bang Unico and Spirit of Big Bang.

(Clockwise from top left) Big Bang Integral, Classic Fusion Chronograph, Spirit of Big Bang and Big Bang Unico
(Clockwise from top left) Big Bang Integral, Classic Fusion Chronograph, Spirit of Big Bang and Big Bang Unico

Big Bang Integral

(From left) Big Bang Integral Yellow Gold Pave and Yellow Gold Joaillerie
(From left) Big Bang Integral Yellow Gold Pave and Yellow Gold Joaillerie

Of the Yellow Gold Collection, this is perhaps the purist model for adhering closest to the name, as it eschews the standard black rubber strap for an integrated bracelet in solid gold. Technically it is also among the more accomplished, being fitted with the MHUB1280 Unico 2 manufacture movement. This self-winding caliber is a flyback chronograph: timings can be executed in series at a single push without having to first stop and reset the hands, and the wearer has a front row seat to the proceedings since the coupling works and column wheel are on the dial side, visible through the matte black skeleton dial. A silicon escapement is a plus, as is the longish 72-hour power reserve. Moreover, Hublot also managed to shave 1.3mm off the movement height compared to the first Unico movement, resulting in a slimmer watch of a smaller case diameter, relatively speaking.

Three versions of the Big Bang Integral are offered in the Yellow Gold Collection: the all-gold Yellow Gold version, a Pave version that is set with some 5.4 cts worth of diamonds, and the Joaillerie version set with 17 cts of diamonds.

Big Bang Integral in Yellow Gold
Big Bang Integral in Yellow Gold
Big Bang Integral Yellow Gold Joaillerie
Big Bang Integral Yellow Gold Joaillerie
Closed up of Joaillerie version set with 17 carats of diamonds
Closed up of Pave version set with 5.4 carats worth of diamonds
Big Bang Integral Yellow Gold Pave
Big Bang Integral Yellow Gold Pave

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding MHUB1280 Unico 2 manufacture flyback chronograph movement, column wheel, silicon escapement, 4Hz, power reserve of 72 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, 60-minute counter, date
Case: In Yellow Gold, Yellow Gold Pave (1,026 Diamonds for ~5.4cts), and Yellow Gold Joaillerie (594 Diamonds for ~17cts) versions; 42mm, 13.45mm thick, water resistant to 100 meters
Strap: yellow gold bracelet with gold deployant buckle clasp; Pave and Joaillerie versions set with diamonds


Big Bang Unico

Big Bang Unico

There are Big Bang models in larger case sizes, but if 42mm is one’s sweet spot, this also happens to be the first with the particular combination of 42mm yellow gold case, rubber strap, and Unico movement. Very “fusion” indeed, uniting precious metal with a performance material, and also a bearer of Hublot’s aspirations, being equipped with a manufacture movement. As described above, this Unico 2 is slimmer, has a long power reserve of 72 hours and packs greater functionality from its flyback capability, while securing greater precision and reliability from a silicon escapement.

Big Bang Unico
Big Bang Unico

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding MHUB1280 Unico 2 manufacture flyback chronograph movement, column wheel, silicon escapement, 4Hz, power reserve of 72 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, 60-minute counter, date
Case: Yellow gold, 42mm, 14.50mm thick,
Strap: Black rubber strap with yellow gold and black-plated titanium deployant buckle clasp


Classic Fusion Chronograph

Classic Fusion Chronograph

There are more than 60 references of the Classic Fusion Chronograph and remarkably, this is the first to be executed in yellow gold in a 42mm case size. And of the many chronographs that bear the Hublot name, the Classic Fusion Chronograph is arguably the most graceful. Harking back to the aesthetics of Hublot’s earlier watches in the 1980s, the classic Classic Fusion Chronograph dials back the aggressiveness of the regular Big Bang, opting for a quieter charm that nevertheless sheds nothing of the its presence on the wrist.

Classic Fusion Chronograph
Classic Fusion Chronograph

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding MHUB1153 chronograph movement, 4Hz, power reserve of 42 hours,
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, date, 30-minute counters
Case: 18k yellow gold, 42mm, 11.9mm thick, sapphire crystal front and back, water resistant to 50 meters
Strap: Black rubber strap with yellow gold and black-plated titanium deployant Clasp


Spirit of Big Bang

Spirit of Big Bang

It’s how we would name a ship; all the more fitting then, that despite its smaller 42mm size (the larger size in Hublot’s Spirit repertoire is 45mm), the tonneau case with skeletonized dial weighs a ton in presence. In yellow gold, the Spirit of Big Bang is just that much more stunning than comparable references in titanium. Beyond aesthetics though, the other highlight lies beneath the dial: the self-winding MHUB4700 chronograph movement, based on the legendary El Primero movement from Zenith. Released in 1969, the El Primero was the first integrated self-winding chronograph movement and it also beat at 5hz, a beat rate still largely unbested by the majority of contemporary mechanical timepieces.

Spirit of Big Bang
Spirit of Big Bang

Tech Specs

Movement: Self-winding MHUB4700 chronograph movement, 5Hz, power reserve of 50 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, date, 30-minute and 12-hour counters
Case: yellow gold, 42mm, 14.10mm thick, sapphire crystal front and back, water resistant to 100 meters
Strap: Black rubber straps with yellow gold and black-plated titanium deployant buckle clasp

More information: Hublot.com

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