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Watches & Wonders 2022: Hublot Squares Big Bang

Hublot adds a square-cased collection with Square Bang Unico, a series of five chronograph watches set with the watchmaker’s HUB1280 Unico Manufacture movement. While we’ve seen barrel-shaped Spirit of Big Bang Hublot models in recent years, the new collection is Hublot’s first with four corners.

The new Hublot Square Bang Unico, here in King Gold and ceramic.

The new Square Bang Unico series features a ‘sandwich’ construction that offers the wearer the same deep, architectural profile as most Hublot watches. And, just as aligned with Big Bang designs, the new Square Bang Unico features a largely sapphire dial to offer a clear view into the Unico movement, notably its column wheel (seen at the 6 o’clock position) and the date wheel. Even the hands here echo those seen on Big Bang models.

Up close on the dial of the Hublot Square Bang Unico, here in titanium.

Other parallels to existing Big Bang models include the 42mm case size, the six (functional) screws on the bezel and the case protectors on the crown side and the left side of the case.

Hublot also extends its proven One Click strap-change system with two fixed screws to the new Square Bang collection. Hublot designed new textured pattern for the rubber strap that includes four rows (like the four sides of the case) of raised squares (like the bezel on the case).

The Hublot Square Bang Unico, in titanium and ceramic.

As noted above, Hublot will kick off the collection with five models. Three are in solid titanium, black ceramic or King Gold and the other two are cased in blended titanium or King Gold with a black ceramic bezel. One collection, the Square Bang Unico All Black, will be made as a limited edition of 250.

The Hublot Square Bang Unico All Black.

Prices: All Black (limited to 250 pieces): $26,200. Titanium Ceramic: $24,100. Titanium: $23,100. King Gold Ceramic: $39,900. King Gold: $43,100.

The Hublot Square Bang Unico King Gold.

 

Additional Hublot Watches & Wonders 2022 highlights include:

The Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Purple Sapphire. A limited edition of fifteen pieces in translucent purple (a composite of aluminum oxide and chrome), which Hublot says is an industry premiere. Price: $200,000.

The Hublot Fusion Orlinski Bracelet, the first bracelet for the artistic collaboration. The 83-part titanium bracelet is faceted and bezeled to match the case. Price: $15,700 in titanium with white dial (below) or black dial.

Four additional colors in the Hublot Big Bang Integral Ceramic collection. Look for new models (below) in Green, Indigo Blue, Beige and Sky Blue. Price: $24,100.

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The Watches

MB&F Launches M.A.D.1 Red

Collectors frustrated by the very limited nature of last year’s MB&F M.A.D.1 now have a chance to score a new version of the very cool, affordably priced automatic watch with lateral time display and tricked-out upside-down Miyota movement.

MB&F is releasing the new M.A.D. 1 Red under the new M.A.D. Editions label.

MB&F’s new M.A.D. 1 Red looks very similar to the original blue-tinged M.A.D.1, which was available last year only to MB&F Friends and MB&F watch owners.

Like that first watch, the new model also displays time via two highly luminous rotating cylinders around its case. Just as eye-catching is the unidirectional titanium and tungsten triple-blade rotor spinning quickly atop the watch. MB&F makes all this happen by fitting and re-engineering the watch’s Miyota movement upside-down in the steel M.A.D. 1 Red case.   

In addition to the new cherry red hue on this Red edition, MB&F has thinned the bezel and added a traditional winding crown (at 12 o’clock) to the watch. The crown on last year’s blue edition featured a folding protector that doubled as a winding aid.

MB&F is making these special editions under a new brand name, M.A.D. Editions, and has long-term plans for additional models. Collectors who have previously contacted MB&F about the earlier M.A.D. Edition watch, or who already own an MB&F watch (or are MB&F Friends) are first in line to purchase the new watch.

If you’re not among those categories, there’ still a path toward obtaining your own M.A.D 1 Red: MB&F is conducting a lottery for interested buyers.

“Once we have the confirmations of the priority orders, we’ll then take all the remaining M.A.D.1 Red pieces available, and allocate them thanks to a lottery, open to everyone,” explains MB&F founder Max Busser.

“If you’re interested in participating in the lottery, which is of course totally free of charge, please go to our eShop to obtain a lottery ticket – and relax, there’s no rush, you have the next two weeks to get a ticket. After two weeks we’ll then proceed with a random draw, and we’ll let you know whether the draw has been favorable to you – in which case you will be able to place your order.”

Given the price (CHF 2,900) and the pedigree of the new M.A.D.1 Red, expect very high demand.

Deliveries of the M.A.D.1 Red commence in April and continue throughout the rest of this year. While the first deliveries will go to collectors who wrote to MB&F previously, MB&F expects to start delivering watches to the lottery winners between September and December.

For additional details see the MB&F eShop at: https://shop.madgallery.ch/

 

 

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Alpina

Alpina Updates Startimer Pilot Automatic

Alpina has updated its aviation-themed Startimer collection with a new design featuring a new case, new bezel and new 41mm diameter size.

One of the first new mechanical models displaying the updated design, the Startimer Pilot Automatic, sports a blue or black dial, a steel case and a steel bracelet or a top-stitched calfskin leather strap.

The new Alpina Startimer Pilot Automatic.

Alpina notes that the new collection more closely echoes its own early pilot watch designs, with the newest size offering a compromise between the existing 44mm and 40mm versions, both of which will remain in the collection.

The new fluted bezel is especially notable for its retro appeal and was initially designed in the early part of the last century to give pilots wearing gloves a surer grip. Likewise, the watch’s crown is fluted to enhance a gloved grip, and is screwed down to ensure water resistance to 100 meters.

In addition, Alpina has revised the Startimer’s hands, changing the earlier leaf shape to the newer cathedral design, filled with luminous material. A new fine tip enables the index markers to be read more precisely. The seconds hand has also been updated with the Alpina triangular counterweight.

Both the new hands point to smaller Arabic numerals and a railway style minutes track. The five-minute intervals are marked by a luminous marker next to the numeral on the track.

Finally, Alpina has moved the date window from its previous location at 3 o’clock to a more traditional pilot watch location at 6 o’clock.

On the back is an engraving that features an airplane about to fly over a mountain, accompanied by the vintage version of the Alpina logo.

Inside Alpina fits its Sellita-based FC-525 automatic movement.

Look for the new Alpina Startimer Pilot Automatic in three variations: with a black dial on a steel bracelet (not pictured), a black dial on a black strap or a blue dial set with a brown calfskin strap.

(Note that Alpina also offers a quartz-powered Startimer Quartz Chronograph Big Date with the same design updates described above.)

Prices:  $1,295 (SS bracelet), $1,195 (leather strap).

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The Watches

Frederique Constant Celebrates a Worldtimer

Frederique Constant celebrates the tenth anniversary of its Classics Worldtimer Manufacture with a pair of attractive blue-and-grey-dialed limited edition references.

Frederique Constant releases limited edition versions of its Classics Worldtimer Manufacture in steel and in pink gold.

In keeping with this Geneva brand’s ‘affordable luxury’ tenet, the Classics Worldtimer has been among the highest-value Swiss-made examples of it type, particularly as it’s supplied with an in-house worldtimer caliber (visible through the sapphire caseback).

We’ve seen Frederique Constant release the Classics Worldtimer Manufacture in a variety of hues and metals during the past decade. This new offering, in a choice of a pink gold or steel case, combines the most classic combination that represents the earth’s blue oceans surrounded by white clouds.

The worldtimer dial allows the time to be read in twenty-four time zones with clear daytime or nighttime indication. Frederique Constant applies luminescent indexes (and on the hands in the steel model) to the fairly traditional globe décor world time display. This all frames a handsome sunray guilloché date hand display at the 6 o’clock position.

Frederique Constant will make the 42mm pink gold model as a limited edition of eighty-eight while the second, in steel, will be limited to 1,888 pieces. Both pieces arrive on a matching navy blue alligator strap with a folding buckle, decorated with the Frederique Constant logo.

Prices: $4,495 today and $4,695 as of April 15 (steel) and $18,995 today, $21,995 as of April 15 (pink gold).

 

 

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Oris

Oris to Auction Gold Aquis to Help Restore Reefs

Oris will again assist the Coral Restoration Foundation as it works to restore the world’s coral reefs. The Swiss watchmaker is donating a yellow gold Carysfort Reef Limited Edition Aquis to the annual Raise the Reef gala in Key Largo, Florida, scheduled for March 19. The auction provides the vast majority of the annual budget for the Foundation.

The Oris Carysfort Reef Limited Edition Aquis.

Oris originally released the watch as a limited edition of fifty pieces, all of which are sold. But for the gala, Oris donated the first production piece, which features the lowest limited edition number (#02 of 50) available to the public. Oris will also donate two additional models of the watch to the non-profit Coral Restoration Foundation for other fund-raisers this spring.

The 43.5mm 18-karat gold watch is based on the Oris Aquis dive watch and was the first Oris Aquis model produced in solid gold. The 18-karat yellow gold case is complemented by a solid 18-karat gold bezel with a black and blue ceramic insert.

The automatic mechanical watch has a GMT function and can show the time in three time zones simultaneously using the 24-hour scale laser-engraved into the bezel. The watch’s caseback is decorated with a special Carysfort Reef motif. Oris expects the watch to raise far more than the $19,000 original retail price at the gala auction.

Oris has a nearly decade-long partnership with Coral Restoration Foundation is part of the Oris Change For the Better initiative. By the end of this year, the foundation will have planted more than 30,000 corals on Florida’s Carysfort Reef.

“This partnership is central to our continuing mission to bring Change for the Better,” explains Oris Co-CEO Rolf Studer. “Through the Oris Carysfort Reef Limited Edition, we’re really stepping up our ambitions and our contribution to returning the world’s corals to their original state. It’s a hugely important project and we’re excited by everything Coral Restoration Foundation is achieving through it.”

 

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