Giant Unleashed: The Hublot Big Bang King Power Tourbillon GMT

The Hublot Big Bang King Power Tourbillon GMT made its debut in 2010, at a time when we were coming off a run of fascination with big watches and boy, did this one fit the bill. This is maximalist watchmaking at its most maximal, and there’s no getting around it – at 48mm x 17.3mm x 59.3mm, lug to lug, it’s basically the size of a small pocket watch (or maybe a not so small pocket watch) and with personality to match. I think what we’ll see, though, is that size, at least in this case, isn’t everything, or at least it’s not the whole story; the Big Bang King Power Tourbillon GMT holds up to much closer examination than you might think, and there’s some surprisingly traditional finishing in there as well.

Tim reviewed this big bad boy recently, and he said at one point, “You’re probably wondering how this watch wears on my wrist, and the answer is … not well,” recommending at least a 17 centimeter wrist circumference and I’m inclined to agree with him, and to also add that it doesn’t hurt if you want a watch that is going to be impossible to miss, even across a crowded room or a darkened club. It’s massive, and no two ways about it, although as you can see, it does make pretty spectacular use of all that real estate.

The watch shows the time as well as the time in a second time zone, thanks to an AM/PM blue and red subdial at 1:00, and the tourbillon sits proudly at about half past five, under an unusual, zig-zag upper bridge; finally, there’s a retrograde date display. The pusher on the lower right side of the case is used to quick set the GMT hand and the one on the left, to quick set the date. You’ve got about a 90 hour power reserve as well – a long running time to go with the enormous dimensions – and the case has that complex construction you’d expect from the brand whose defining  philosophy is summed up in the word Fusion.

The case is constructed in layers, with a ceramic case middle (and polymer upper guard for the crown) sandwiched in between two layers of Hublot’s King Gold alloy. King Gold is one of a family of red gold alloys used in the watch industry, which contain a high percentage of platinum, or one of the platinum group metals, which help prevent discoloration from the oxidizing of the copper that makes red gold red. The bezel is also constructed in a layered fashion – the upper surface is ceramic, but the sides of the bezel are covered in rigged rubber. The bezel itself is held in place with Hublot’s signature bezel screws, shaped like a stylized letter H.

We’ve gone on a bit about the size of the watch, but it does wear pretty comfortably if you don’t mind the size, and that’s partly thanks to the natural rubber strap, which tapers down to a folding clasp in blackened titanium and more King Gold. The strap has the same ridges as the bezel and they’re held firmly in place on the case, by four more of the H-head screws. Though there’s plenty of gold to go around, the use of ceramic helps to keep the wear experience driving more in the reality lane than you might expect, although once again, this is a beast of a timepiece that makes no apology for its size.

Despite that, there’s a surprising sense of refinement in the details. The movement in particular, shows much more attention to detail than a lot of folks might associate with Hublot.

The indexes and hands have faceted upper surfaces, and the hands are straight grained along their long axes, as are the indexes. The hands are in two layers, with the lower layer media blasted, and there’s black Super-LumiNova on the hands and indexes as well. As you can see in Tim’s video, the light emission from the black lume is pretty low, but I’ll take it anyway because it’s consistent with the black and gold theme in the rest of the watch. The movement plate, which is visible through the front of the watch, also functions as the dial, and it’s finished with a spiraled, radial pattern. One interesting detail is the date display; the date numerals are set on individual steps, alternating between high and low, which adds additional texture and interest to the dial.

The movement was assembled in house at Hublot, just after its primary supplier for complicated movements, BNB Concept, filed for bankruptcy in January of 2010. The collapse of BNB Concept would have been potentially very problematic for Hublot, who were at the time, BNB Concept’s single biggest client, but Jean-Claude Biver protected Hublot’s position by acquiring the company’s CNC machines, stock of spare parts, and 29 employees, including co-founder Matthias Buttet.

The tourbillon upper bridge configuration is unusual, but the tourbillon itself is really a very traditional piece of watchmaking, with a balance beating at 21,600 vph and with a flat balance spring with conventional regulator, and lever escapement. The tourbillon is driven in the traditional way, at the lower pinion of the cage, with the escape wheel driven by the outward facing teeth of the fixed fourth wheel as the cage rotates. The cage and balance are both quite large and there is concentric graining on the gold bridge and on the steel arms of the tourbillon cage. The upper jewel of the cage runs in a very large jewel set in a beautifully finished, highly polished raised countersink, and while the angular shape of the bridge is very modern and very Hublot, the execution in general is pretty classic fine watchmaking.

The view from the back shows just how well the caliber HUB6121 takes up the volume of the case.

This is a quite unconventional layout for a modern watch. The movement is essentially a full plate design, with a very large aperture up top showing the 24 hour wheel and jumper for the GMT display. The snail in the opening at 3:00 is for retrograde date – the lever with its tip resting on the snail, drops from the highest to the lowest point on the snail at the end of the month, flicking the date hand back to the first. The wheels for the keyless works for winding and setting are arranged in a horizontal row, with the very well finished keyless works themselves visible through an aperture at 9:00; the steelwork is polished and straight grained on top. While the movement itself doesn’t quite take up as much volume in the 48mm case as it could – the caseback ring is quite wide and then there’s the extra width added by the lower layer of gold in the case proper – it still feels like a good fit. I think this is partly due to the fact that the design is full plate, and that full plate is also gold, which gives good visual continuity across the back of the watch as a whole.

Generally speaking, I like watches that know their own mind. The Big Bang is sometimes criticized as being derivative of the Royal Oak or the Offshore, but I think it had by this time in the history of Hublot, really established its own identity, and owned its own identity and this massive, and massively visually impressive watch, is the result. It’s interesting to look back at it, as well, in the light of today’s mass retreat across the industry to legacy designs and the the obsession that many collectors have with legacy designs and traditional Swiss-French movement design and finishing. For someone looking for an unapologetically loud, proud, and extroverted watch that expresses some real exuberance in its imaginative break with classicism, the Hublot Big Bang King Power Tourbillon GMT is a breath of fresh air, and a welcome change from the general sense of timidity current in so much of luxury watchmaking.

The Hublot Big Bang King Power Tourbillon GMT: case, 48mm x 17.3mm x 59.3mm lug to lug, case in ceramic and Hublot 18k red King Gold, 100M water resistant, with sapphire crystals front and back. Ceramic bezel with ribbed rubber shroud. Movement, caliber HUB6121, full plate movement running at 21,600 vph in 30 jewels; one minute tourbillon with flat balance spring and lever escapement; 24 hour GMT display and retrograde date; corrector pushers for the GMT display and date at 4:00 and 8:00 respectively. Rubber strap, with blackened titanium and King Gold folding clasp. See it here for more information, price, and availability.