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SpotlightHublot Big Bang Ferrari Titanium Carbon – When two heavyweights collide

When two giant brands collide, expect something spectacular coming your way

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“Marriage is the crowning of the perfect union of two twin souls. The tangible sign of two people’s desire to build something strong and enduring as a symbol of their commitment to each other.” And in the world of horology, it’s not very uncommon. Coming together of two big companies is something we’ve seen for so many years, but when two heavyweights come together, you can expect something grand and exceptional. Who are we talking about? Hublot and Ferrari, of course.

A partnership that aims to break all past feats in the world of horology, the two brands came together to launch a new range of watches; one of them being the Limited Edition Big Bang Ferrari Titanium Carbon. An exceptionally designed watch made of an unheard combination of two strong materials, and powered by a superior ‘engine’ within.
But you saw that coming from Hublot and Ferrari, right?

Let’s go in depth with the watch and see what’s in store for us:

The partnership: Hublot and Ferrari:

“Ferrari cars and Hublot watches – partners in timekeeping”. But really, how well do these two brands go together?

This is probably a question watch lovers have been asking since Hublot announced their partnership with the Italian sports car manufacturer back in 2011, because past associations with the car maker didn’t end up going too well with anyone. No one had really been successful as a watchmaking partner to Ferrari. So what did Hublot do differently with this relationship?

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Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari’s ace driver, sporting his favorite Hublot

Hublot, as we’ve mentioned before, is a fairly young brand (they began in the 80s), but in this short span of time, they’ve become masters of the watchmaking world by clubbing innovation with smart marketing. Today it’s right up there with all the top brands thanks to one guy: Jean-Claude Biver.

In fact, the “Hublot Big Bang” is Mr. Biver’s brainchild, and arguably the best example of how attention-worthy forms or associations with famous clubs, teams, players and personalities can work so well for luxury watch advertising in modern times. It was Jean-Claude Biver who went after Ferrari, and in his opinion, it was “Only Hublot that could make the car and watch relationship perfect.”

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“Only Hublot that could make the car and watch relationship perfect.” – Jean-Claude Biver on why he approached Ferrari for the partnership

“This collaboration, rich in a host of synergies, gives Hublot a massive boost along the road.”

-Jean-Claude Biver Chairman, Hublot

Titanium + Carbon = Pinnacle of resistance:

Coming back to the watch, Hublot has pulled off the impossible again by combining two materials which, in theory, ‘can never be mixed’ – Carbon and Titanium. Hublot continues its obsession with unusual materials with this watch. But it’s not Hublot alone that is obsessed with the unusual, the two brands share the same vision in terms of precursor materials.

Titanium, as you know, is known for its resistance, and carbon fibre weighs half as much as aluminium and is yet three times stronger. You can call Carbon fibre the ‘feather’ that is stronger than steel. And it took the R&D department back at Hublot HQ at least six months to structure the layers of materials used in the bezel.

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Hublot continues their “Art of Fusion” by combining Titanium and Carbon, a combination which was otherwise impossible. It took them 6 months to develop the bezel of this watch

The result? A Carbon infused titanium bezel, which makes the watch not only lighter but extremely strong and resistant. Heck, this watch is a marriage of materials too! Additionally, the 45mm case features a special finish – micro-blasted coating for extra hardness, and a silky metallic effect appearance. In pictures, the bezel might appear to be given a scraped-off look which one might assume to be rugged, but the reality is that the bezel does feel quite smooth.

Hublot’s signature – The Unico Movement:

Taking no less than 4 years to develop, the Unico movement is Hublot’s baby. In their words “the fruit of intensive research & development” paid dividends for them and there’s no doubt that this watch too, has a spectacular movement. The HUB 1241 UNICO has been developed and manufactured in-house by Hublot with 330 individually hand-assembled components constructed in a way that allows the wearer to admire the mechanics from the dial as well as the see-through case back. The movement powering this watch has just the date and flyback chronograph complications. The watch has a skeletonized dial with applied Arabic numerals with a Chrono register at 3 o’clock that also features a yellow date aperture. Ferrari’s ‘Cavallino Rampante’ or the prancing horse logo is visible at 9 o’clock.

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A minimum of 300 hand-assembled parts add up to Hublot’s in house Unico movement
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The Unico movement and it’s uniquely designed rotor are visible from the see-through sapphire caseback

Good to mention here that using chrono-pushers is extremely smooth and will delight the wearer, which again, sort of confirms that the Unico calibre has indeed been beautifully engineered. The power reserve of this watch is also a good 72 hours.

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The chronograph pushers are a joy to use with an extremely soft+smooth response

Stunning detail:

Again, because this is a result of two big brands coming together, you would expect quality craftsmanship and great engineering coming your way. So far I’ve mentioned the case and movement but it’s the strap and Hublot’s unique concept that takes the accolades. ‘Schedoni’ grey leather with red stitching is the default strap that comes with this watch, having a deployment clasp which makes the watch comfortable to wear and aids both wearer comfort and longevity of the strap. But should you wish to change or replace it with something of your own, you can do so with just a push of a button. Hublot probably understands that customising the watch should be a user-friendly method without the need of traditional tools, and so they made two black buttons, one on each side of the lugs. Press the buttons on the front of the case and the strap easily disengages. After that, you can add any strap you like.

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Hublot developed two black buttons, one on each side of the lugs to allow wearers to change straps with ease and without the hassle of using traditional tools

Limited Edition:

I won’t deny, I’ve always been a distant admirer of the Hublot Big Bang collection, and the Ferrari Titanium, in theory, has retained much of the same design philosophy of other Big Bang models. The only difference being that this watch has been constructed with an unheard of combination of two strong materials and the overall choice of colours flourishes of a Ferrari style accessory. But make no mistake, this is a really good timepiece. There are exactly 1,000 of these made for the world. You can click here to reserve the Big Bang Ferrari before it’s too late.

Nevertheless, the ‘collision’ of these two brands has produced a big bang (literally), which many Ferrari and Hublot fans across the universe, including me, will find difficult to ignore.

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The Hublot Big Bang Ferrari Titanium Carbon is limited to 1,000 examples for the world

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