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INTRODUCING: With this razor-sharp trio, Hublot once again move the goalposts with the Big Bang Integral Ceramic INTRODUCING: With this razor-sharp trio, Hublot once again move the goalposts with the Big Bang Integral Ceramic

INTRODUCING: With this razor-sharp trio, Hublot once again move the goalposts with the Big Bang Integral Ceramic

Thor Svaboe

FINALLY! We cried in 2020 as Hublot unleashed their Integral series. With one fell swoop, the Masters of Bold brushed competition aside in the wristwatch MMA series of the Integrated Bracelet Battle For Supremacy. Ingeniously retaining the sharp design language of the Big Bang collection, now close to a contemporary classic, we got the chunkiest, edgiest bracelet on the market that’s (crucially) still very comfortable. With our integrated bracelet appetites supposedly sated with titanium, King Gold and black ceramic, today launched no less than three new colours, making the Hublot Big Bang Integral Ceramic a high-tech materiality showcase for Hublot. A classic white, formal grey tone and, maybe my favourite, that difficult to classify shade of navy  that is just so.   

The well-defined details of the bold-bezelled Big Bang are just as sharp as we know them, like the colour-matched rubber on the muscular pushers. Then there’s the angular, strong case design made even more pronounced through the bracelet, its bold outer links echoing the broad, sharp stroke of bevelling that defines the case sides and dramatic sweep of lug. So what do these three watches do to us? 


They make us wonder why the Integral with its bracelet wasn’t launched earlier in the last decade, it’s a tough looking perfect evolution. Me, I would say it looks separated at birth, perhaps stolen by agents from the Dark Web, only to resurface last year after a massive ransom had been paid in King Gold bullion, and is now back home on the 42mm case where it belongs

The in-house Unico column wheel chronograph movement is still an engineering marvel opened up in all its intrinsic glory. Here it’s present with those small, but important details matched to the new tricolor of ceramic, and pops of red like the tip of a polished seconds hand and an inner circle in the chronograph minute counter. A minute counter where they’ve discretely put a date window so unobtrusive that I only just found it.

The intricate world of brushed and polished ceramic surfacing is made to look effortless by Hublot, their knowledge of materials visible in every sharp angle and broad yet incisive dynamic of bevelled edge. They know what we want, and they have a knack of showing us just enough to have to re-arrange our grail wish-list once again.

The Hublot Big Bang Integral Ceramic, pricing and availability:

The Hublot Big Bang Integral Ceramic will be available in Hublot boutiques and online from Hublot. Price: 22,700 Euros