INTRODUCING: The Hublot Big Bang MP-11 Magic Gold weaves a golden web to trap you in a world of micro-mechanical wonder
Blown away by the first picture in the press release. Where to start? I’ll be honest with you, while we want to share the news from the LVMH Watch Week as soon as it comes out, it does create the luxury of frustration, very apparent in this story on the Hublot Big Bang MP-11 Magic Gold. My frustration is one of knowing I could easily write 2000 words on this indecipherable world of the hand-wound Calibre HUB9011 watch movement and still not fully comprehend its head-scratching complexity. But that is exactly what makes the MP-11 series so special and still immensely beguiling after being with us for a few years. It’s still the pinnacle of a wrist watch engine. Why? Well, had it been an electric car it would end all that anxiety about how far you can travel without charging, as this watch has the unbelievable prowess of a 14-day power reserve. That’s one hot engine under the hood, baby, and Hublot ain’t afraid of showing it. Gone are the laurels for 70 hours of power reserve. How much did you say, I must have misheard you? I repeat: 14 days. Read it and weep. And how? Seven barrels…
The post INTRODUCING: The Hublot Big Bang MP-11 Magic Gold weaves a golden web to trap you in a world of micro-mechanical wonder appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
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…
Hublot is no stranger to coloured sapphire cases, but never have we seen this delicious colour in any wrist-worn wonder, from Hublot or anyone else. ..Well, who else would be up for this flavour of Vitamin See that will have everybody eyeballing your wrist? As the boldest, brightest spark of colour in the LVMH Watch Week press conference this morning, it literally caused me to jump a measurable few inches from my chair. Like a blood orange blood infusion of Haute Horologie, the (deep breath) Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Orange Sapphire has a name as long as its impact is strong (rhyme intented). The HBBTAOS is lit. Even if we are used to the Big Bang series being bold with capital letters, after all these years they still manage to knock our socks off with pure audacity. Again and again. How? The orange sapphire is a peachy sapphire tinted with titanium and chromium, incredibly hard to machine, and to give us another jolt of surprise, with a brand new semi-transparent automatic movement which comes tourbillon equipped. More full size Jaffa orange than demure mandarin, the 45mm x 15.3 is neither svelte nor slim, but what the hell, this dramatic…
Since its inception in 2014, the Octo Finissimo was an absolute game changer for how the watch enthusiast community perceived the Bulgari brand. Sure the brand always enjoyed a successful niche, but the lineup of Octo Finissimo watches with their unbelievably slimline cases grabbed the attention of men and women who love watches all around the world. These were a testament to the horological prowess the brand commands and made brands previously known as the kings of ultra-thin watchmaking hastily scramble back to the drawing board. Now the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Titanium Black Opaline Dial refreshes the thinnest automatic chronograph watch in the world with its new dial tone and all new rubber strap. The black opaline dial introduced in this model is effectively the inverse of what we have seen from the Chronograph GMT previously. Whereas the original was a matte silver/gray with black printed numerals, indices and hands, we now have a matte black opaline dial with grey/silver printed numerals, indices, and hands. It’s complications are crisp, clean, and easy to read with the GMT at the 3 o’clock position, elapsed minutes at 6 o’clock, and running seconds at nine As the watch is not part…
The Octo Finissimo has become a real fan-favorite in the watch community and redefined expectations for the ultra-thin watch category. Many have expressed concern about the saturation of integrated stainless-steel sports watches, but the Bulgari Octo Finissimo, originally introduced in 2014 gave buyers the best of both worlds: an integrated bracelet sports watch, but with an incredibly distinct and original design. You see a whole new side to watch design all thanks to the 110 facets of the case that work to create an architecture only the “Roman Jeweler of Time” can provide. The second generation removed the uniform tone of the first, trading a muted sandblasted texture for the more common harmony of satin brushes and mirror polishes. The new Bulgari Octo Finissimo S Silvered Dial finds middle ground between the two, pairing the monochromatic aesthetic of the first with the contrasting finishes introduced in the second. The biggest revelation here is the new vertically brushed silvered dial. The dial texture plays really well with the contrasting finishes, it almost makes the dial feel like it is frozen in time – like Han Solo in carbonite. To ensure the monochromatic look does not come off too flat, Bulgari utilises…
Last year, the time-only Octo Finissimo watches received a major upgrade in the form of a screw-down crown and improved depth rating of 100 metres. They also received contrasting finishes to the highly faceted surfaces of the case and bracelet. This resulted in a greater play with light and a watch that became both more elegant and sporty – two traits that are often mutually exclusive. In short, it was a real triumph with many lauding the fact that the specifications were much more in line with its original billing as a sports watch. Today, the Chronograph GMT finally joins in on the fun with the new Bulgari Octo Finissimo S Chronograph GMT, which features a blue lacquered dial with silver registers. The striking sunburst blue dial is dispersed with silver concentric textured chronograph and GMT sub dials. The panda-like aesthetic definitely pairs well with the sporty design of the watch, which makes sense considering this is the most robust Chronograph GMT yet. While its tougher than ever, it is equally supercharged in elegance. The radially brushed bezel and contrasting finishes to the facets of the case and bracelet are a masterclass in design. To join the “S” series of…
Sydney’s New Year fireworks were more symbolic than ever this year, hopefully distancing us from so many of 2020’s bleak memories including lockdown and Trump. And what about online shopping? Clicking is easy don’t get me wrong, but go through your watch drawer and do the maths: how many pieces have you actually bought online and how many have turned out to be a slightly different colour or size on your wrist than you imagined? My bet is there’s a fair few. That’s why we still need the reassurance of walking through the front doors of a boutique, having that friendly chat and maybe an espresso, and walking out with what? Something that fits you, suits you and stays with you through a more normal year (knock on wood). With that in mind, we visited the Sydney Hublot boutique that we published a story on last year. In store, you receive that feeling of reassurance that you just don’t get by stroking the mouse or scrolling through the online shopping basket. Here are three Hublot watches we were tempted by, all exclusively available at the King Street boutique. Hublot Classic Fusion Gold Crystal Nothing will prepare you for the deeply…
Ok, here’s a fact: The Rolex Daytona owes a debt to the Zenith El Primero. A modified version of the El Primero movement powered the Daytona for 12 years, and marked the first automatic Daytona models. This all happened when I was merely 12 years old, in 1988. And now, Zenith is taking that debt back with a black ceramic bezel twist that dawns a new era and a new name, in the Zenith Chronomaster Sport. There’s some pretty nifty mechanical trickery going on with the new 10th of a second caliber, too, but we will get to this once the initial impression wears off, and is – in my opinion – thoroughly justified. The Zenith El Primero is famous for two reasons. One, as a watch that deserves to be called iconic even amongst the most towering icons, and that holds various important claims in the pantheon of 20th Century watchmaking, including, but not limited to the first fully integrated, Swiss made, self-winding automatic chronograph, hence the name, El Primero. The second is the El Primero’s fame as a movement alone. Even 19 years after its release in 1969, the movement was so reliable, robust and well regarded that…
As a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel that was 2020, a watch was released that sent murmurs of excitement through Seiko fans around the world. It was the King Seiko KSK SJE083, a reissue of one of the most important references for the brand, the King Seiko ref. 44-9990. This isn’t just any other reissue. This is a watch that celebrates a critical decade in the history of the Japanese watchmaker that deserves greater recognition – the 1960s. A brief history of King Seiko Let’s start with a little bit of history. Thanks to being so geographically isolated from Europe and the rest of the watchmaking world, Seiko had to do things a little differently than their continental colleagues. In Europe, the watch industry was generally very horizontally structured, with hundreds of watchmaking businesses only producing very specific parts. This ecosystem of watchmakers had its benefits. Every watchmaker could focus solely on a single part of the watch, and pour their energy into the craft of perfecting it, giving rise to the likes of the legendary bracelet-making firm Gay Frères and the celebrated casemaker Jean-Pierre Hagmann. Isolated in Japan, this was not an option for Seiko,…