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We continue to highlight a few of our favorite watches from among the more than sixty watchmakers that have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which commences Sunday, November 5, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible one-of-a-kind watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these impressive designs again just ahead of the event.

The watches are currently touring the globe. After concluding their U.S. visit at Christie’s in New York on September 17, the tour will visit Monaco next, followed by stops in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai and back in Geneva. See the Only Watch website for tour dates and details.

In this post we highlight The MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Only Watch (pictured above) by Hublot and the artist, another exceptional piece in the auction this year. Like many in this year’s auction, it glows with bright color and requires a high technical level of workmanship.

This sapphire-cased watch showcases a unique central tourbillon especially conceived for this watch. In addition to showing Hublot’s technical acumen, the idea here is to show that the tourbillon represents the heart of the person who buys it at the auction.

Murakami explicitly requested the inclusion of a central tourbillon, which is now Hublot’s very first central tourbillon.

In this design, the cannon pinion and the hour wheel had to be pivoted around the tourbillon support by creating a co-axial construction. This was made possible thanks to the central flying tourbillon that is seemingly suspended in mid-air with two hands passing under its cage to indicate the hours and minutes.

These hands gravitate towards twelve luminescent indices that echo the colors of the 2023 edition of the Only Watch. And with two barrels, the manual movement offers an incredible 150-hour power reserve. Mounted in series but on a single plane, these barrels can be admired through the sapphire case back.

Estimate: CHF 350,000 – CHF 400,000.

Hublot celebrates the remainder of summer with the Big Bang Unico Sky Blue 42 mm, a new Big Bang model cased in light blue ceramic with a matching ceramic bezel and two matching straps.

The new Hublot Big Bang Unico Sky Blue 42.

As a ceramic-case pioneer, Hublot has created watches with myriad ceramic case colors, offering the lightweight, scratch-resistant material throughout its collections, and especially within the wide ranging Big Bang series.

While we’ve seen the light blue hue on a full ceramic model with a matching ceramic bracelet, this summer-themed edition of the Big Bang Unico sheds the bracelet and arrives with two straps instead.

Hublot’s emblematic six bezel screws contrast nicely against the blue ceramic bezel.

One is a white Velcro strap with a sports fastener and the second is a white and light blue lined natural rubber strap with a titanium deployant buckle.

The watch’s open dial reveals Hublot’s automatic HUB1280 caliber, a self-winding chronograph movement with a 72-hour power reserve. The movement’s gearing, date wheel and even its column wheel are fully visible from the dial, while its rotor, finished plates and escapement are visible through the watch’s sapphire back.

Hublot will make the the Big Bang Unico Sky Blue 42mm as a limited edition of 200 pieces.

Price: $23,800.

Specifications: Hublot Big Bang Unico Sky Blue 42 

(441.EX.5120.RX, limited to 200 pieces) 

Case: 42mm by 14.5mm light blue ceramic, polished and satin-finished with 100 meters of water resistance. Light blue ceramic and polished caseback. Light blue polished and satin-finished ceramic bezel. 

Movement: HUB1280 Unico Manufacture, automatic chronograph with 72-hour power reserve.  

Dial: Light blue, matte finish atop skeletonized design.  

Strap:  First strap: light blue and white lined rubber. Additional strap: white calfskin leather with Velcro fastener and light blue ceramic buckle. 

Price: $23,800.

Hublot and watch retailer Bucherer 1888 celebrate their partnership with the launch of two new limited edition Big Bang Unico watches. The duo is the third exclusive Bucherer model made by Hublot since the partnership commenced in 2008.

The New Hublot Big Bang Unico Bucherer Exclusive Titanium.

One model, the Big Bang Unico Bucherer Exclusive Titanium, shines with a polished 42mm titanium case that Hublot contrasts with a clear sapphire bezel, and the collection’s familiar skeletonized dial. A white rubber strap adds a sporty touch.

The second debut, the Big Bang Unico Bucherer Exclusive Ceramic, combines a 42mm micro-blasted black ceramic case with a polished black sapphire bezel and skeletonized dial. Here, a darker rubber strap matches the case.

The new Hublot Big Bang Unico Bucherer Exclusive Ceramic.

Hublot powers both watches with its excellent in-house, almost fully exposed Unico HUB1280 movement endowed with a seventy-two hour power reserve.

Each watch is a limited edition of thirty pieces to be offered in selected Bucherer boutiques and online in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the United States. Prices: $43,900 (black ceramic) and $42,000 (titanium). 

Hublot has been supporting SORAI – Save Our Rhinos Africa India –since 2019. An organization founded by Hublot ambassador and former international cricket star Kevin Pietersen, SORAI helps keep rhinos threatened with extinction safe from poachers.

The latest Hublot Big Bang Unico SORAI.

As with the two previous limited editions, part of the proceeds from the sale of the 100 Big Bang Unico SORAI will be donated to the organization.

The colors chosen for the third limited edition are those of sunset, recalling the heightened danger faced by rhinos as night falls. Here, the sun is a symbol of hope, of a new dawn.

Proceeds from the sale of the latest Big Bang Unico SORAI ($24,100) will go directly to projects supported by SORAI to equip helicopters with cameras, raise awareness in schools about the consequences of poaching and to provide backup to rangers on the ground.

These strategies are implemented where the need is biggest and most pressing: South Africa. South Africa is home to more than 80% of the world’s total population of rhinos, with the majority of poaching taking place in Kruger National Park, as it has the largest population of wild white rhinos left on earth.

“If purchasing a watch can buy time, then it is a small gesture with huge implications,” says Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe. “We have used our limited editions to help him gain access to more state-of-the-art technologies on the ground, put together more surveillance teams, as well as rescue injured or orphaned rhinos, with the single shared aim of shielding this endangered species.” 

“Our actions on the ground (surveillance teams and equipment to prevent poaching, rhino sanctuaries and refuges) are vital. However, in order to act, we first need to raise public awareness, increase publicity and make this a visible cause,” adds Pietersen. 

Source: Hublot 

 

Specifications: Hublot Big Bang Unico SORAI

Case: 44mm microblasted and polished grey ceramic, sapphire crystal, water restart to 100 meters.

Dial: Matte warm grey skeleton.

Movement: HUB1280 UNICO manufacture automatic chronograph flyback with column wheel. Power reserve of 72 hours.

Strap: Grey fabric with additional black rubber strap with black, orange and purple camouflage decor. Black ceramic and black-plated titanium deployant buckle.

Price: $24,100

Hublot will be sponsoring two teams at the 84th edition of the the Bol d’Or Mirabaud, the world’s largest inland regatta. The brand will accompany its ambassador, Alan Roura, aboard Solano, and the Sailing Squad, an all-female crew of three young international sailors sponsored by Hublot in association with Mirabaud.

Alan Roura – Hublot Ambassador.

The 84th edition of the BOM, which commences June 10, is an opportunity for Hublot to celebrate the return of Alan Roura to Lake Geneva for a race in which he last competed in 2021 and 2017. The offshore sailor will be teaming up with Pascal Feryn, Alberto Corneli, Francesco Bianchi et Francesco Sabatini.

The Sailing Squad

Sailing Squad – Season 3 

Created by Mirabaud bank in 2021, the crew, which changes every year, will comprise three sailors working as a team for the first time in this race. A unique human enterprise, the all-female crew is coached by Shirley Robertson, an elite sailor, double Olympic gold medallist and talented commentator for the BBC and CNN. Hublot and the Sailing Squad will be looking to set a good time aboard Christian Wahl’s D35, Double You Team.

For this third season, the Sailing Squad 2023 will feature three promising young sailors who have all competed at an international level and gained world rankings:  Anja von Allmen, 20, Switzerland. She is currently preparing for the 2024 Olympics in the ILCA 6 Elite class. Eilidh McIntyre, 29, UK. 470 Olympic Champion at the 2020 Olympics. Silvia Mas, 26, Spain. 470 World Champion.

The event kicks off in front of the Société Nautique de Genève yacht club on Saturday, 10th June at 10 am. 

—Source: Hublot