Melissa Kong 17 October 2016

Thinking of getting a Hublot watch? Discover this model and how it compares to others.

Let’s be honest—Hublot is not known for its subtlety, least of all in its Big Bang collection. So a transparent piece was a little surprising at first. But with the brand’s penchant for going big and bold, you can expect their version of a see-through watch to be just as showy.

Following their production of ‘Magic Gold’—the world’s only scratch-resistant gold—Hublot has turned to another heavy-duty material, sapphire, more commonly found over dials and as exhibition casebacks.

One of the hardest materials around and a very difficult medium to machine, sapphire is actually a really logical option to craft a timepiece from, if you have the expertise to do so, because of its ability to protect the delicate mechanism inside. In fact, Hublot isn’t the first brand to debut a sapphire watch; Richard Mille introduced one in 2012—the RM 56, a tourbillon split-seconds chronograph, an equally show-stopping watch.

In the case (excuse the pun) of Hublot, they partnered a Swiss specialist to develop the material and create a limited series of 500 watches—a monumental achievement as sapphire had never been cut on such a large scale before. 

The case middle, bezel and back are cut from blocks of sapphire while the skeleton dial is made from transparent resin. Parts like the winding crown, pushers, screws and deployant buckle are crafted from titanium. A transparent structured lined strap completes the look. Inside, the watch beats with the workhorse HUB1242 UNICO Manufacture movement—a self-winding flyback chronograph with 72 hours of power reserve.

The watch looks as if it had been put through an X-ray machine. It’s not the easiest watch to read, by any means, but the clear crystal affords such a detailed look into the watch that you’ll want to take all the time in the world to marvel at the intricacies in the architecture and movement of the timepiece. Besides, no one really buys a Hublot so they can tell the time, do they?

Melissa Kong

Ex Managing Editor

Like most people these days, Melissa tells the time with her phone. She considers serious timepieces works of art and thinks the perpetual calendar is the handiest complication to date (pun not intended). She's also a Grammar Nazi but promises not to judge if you can't tell the difference between "guilloche" and "guillotine".