Hublot Big Bang watches

The Hublot Big Bang is the collection Jean-Claude Biver set out to create as Hublot's new flagship after he became the company's CEO in 2004. It was unveiled in Basel in April 2005, and the original Big Bang measured 44 mm.

The case has a layered construction, which Hublot kept when it redesigned the case for the Big Bang's 20th anniversary. The collection has used materials including ceramic, sapphire and Magic Gold, a scratch-resistant 18k gold alloy that dates to 2011. The first Big Bangs used a third-party chronograph movement. Hublot developed its in-house Unico movement to replace it, and the Unico reached the Big Bang at Baselworld 2013. The HUB1280 version of the Unico, made for the 20th anniversary, is an automatic flyback chronograph with a column wheel. A partnership with Ferrari, announced in 2011, produced the Big Bang Ferrari.

At the heart of the range is the Big Bang Unico, in 42 and 45 mm cases of titanium, King Gold, ceramic, carbon, Magic Gold and sapphire, often with a skeleton dial and sometimes a gem-set bezel. The Big Bang without the Unico name comes at 41 mm and at the original 44 mm. Beyond these sit the 45 mm Big Bang Alarm Repeater and Meca-10, a Unico Sapphire Perpetual Calendar limited to 50 pieces, and the 39 mm One Click Paraíba in King Gold or white gold. Special editions run through the range: the Big Bang Ferrari in 250 pieces, the Chelsea FC, the Italia Independent, the Special One, the Sorai, and the Meca-10 Nicky Jam, from runs of 100 down to a single High Jewellery piece.