2luxury2 at Baselworld 2013.
Swiss luxury watch manufacturer Hublot presented at this year’s Baselworld 2013, the biggest watch & jewelry show of the planet, a stand focused on the “exceptional”. Hublot invited customers and the public into an individual 3D capsule – out of sight and away from the noise. The Watch Capsule was an innovative system, a unique experience developed by Hublot working closely with its long-time partner and friend: Display case maker Xavier Dietlin.
The Watch Capsule combines 3D technology with a real watch presented just a few centimetres in front of you and unobstructed. Viewers don special projection glasses and place their hands on armrests fitted with infra-red detectors.
Baselworld 2013 was the perfect occasion to unveil MP-05 “LaFerrari” – a horological tribute to La Ferrari tht achieved a historic record with a 50-day power reserve. It is also the watch with the most watchmaking components created to date by Hublot (637).
MP-05 “LaFerrari” watch is featuring a complex shaped sapphire crystal clearly reminiscent of the car’s outline, as well as an open case-back, and is made from black PVD titanium. It is topped by a titanium and carbon insert in its centre, revealing the winding crown. The time-setting crown is positioned under the case. Both are completely integrated into the design, and therefore practically invisible. Hublot MP-05 “LaFerrari” is limited to 50 numbered pieces.
“$1 MILLION” Classic Fusion Haute Joaillerie was the major Haute Joaillerie piece presented by Hublot at BaselWorld 2013. The figures speak for themselves: 1185 baguette diamonds. 4100 hours of cutting. 500 hours of dimensional checking and quality control. 4 months’ work for the stone-setters. In total: 64 experts each in their own field, representing 11 different disciplines.
One year on from the launch of the “Tribute to the Antikythera Mechanism” at the Archaeological Museum of Athens, Hublot presented at Baselworld 203 the “Antikythera SunMoon” watch, featuring highly precise Sun and Moon indications.
The Antikythera mechanism is one of the most mysterious objects in the history of civilisation. Discovered in Greek waters in 1901, it is considered the first “astronomical calculator” in the history of humanity, and dates back to the 2nd century BC(sometime between 150 and 100 BC.).
“Antikythera SunMoon” is a unique edition of 20 pieces featuring a simplified and miniaturised version of the original mechanism, in honour of this masterpiece of Antiquity.
Hublot only produced four movements, each an exact miniature replica of the original mechanism: The first is on display at the Musée des Arts et Métiers (Museum of Arts andCrafts) in Paris, the second at the National Museum of Athens and the third is held by Hublot inrecognition of the craftsmanship and ingenuity of its own engineers and watchmakers. The fourth will be sold at a unique auction in 2014.
The Antikythera SunMoon includes both a solar and a lunar calendar, as well as an indication showing the sidereal position of the Sun and the Moon. This means that, as well as being able to read the time (hours and minutes), the wearer of this watch can ascertain, for a given day and with extreme accuracy, the phase of the Moon, or more specifically its shape in the sky, the name of the constellation behind the Moon and the time required for the Moon to pass through a constellation.
For the same day, the watch shows the constellation located behind the Sun and indicates the time required for the Sun to pass through a constellation. The piece is completed by a flying tourbillon (without ball bearing) which rotates once every minute to indicate the seconds, with the hours and minutes shown by traditional hands at the centre of the movement on the dial side.
Hublot’s novelties included BIG BANG CARBON BEZEL BAGUETTE – a fusion of carbon fibre and precious stones. Hublot has taken the Full Carbon concept to its ultimate expression, by successfully setting baguette-cut precious stones in a component – the bezel – made from carbon fibre.
Baselworld 2013 marked the start of a new line of Hublot products designed to complete the Big Bang, Classic Fusion, King Power and Masterpieces ranges. Hublot Big Bang Unico is the first in a new line of products designed to house all future incarnations of the UNICO movement. The iconic design of the Big Bang has evolved to contain the UNICO, a column wheel chronographmovement with a dual horizontal coupling visible on the dial side, designed, developed and producedentirely within the Hublot manufacture workshops.
