Calling all lovers of minute details (surely there are a few on a watch website?), gather ’round and behold two very similar watches. To mark the occasion of LVMH Watch Week, Hublot just released these fraternal twin Big Bangs. The Hublot Big Bang Integrated Time Only King Gold Rainbow and the Hublot Big Bang Integrated King Gold Rainbow offer up bling for days in one of Hublot’s signature lines.
The watches share largely the same materials – fashioned from Hublot’s humbly named King Gold, a warm gold containing platinum, both brushed and polished, and featuring black elements on the main plate and dial, the basic canvas for the watches is largely similar. They are both fully paved in rainbow-colored gems, 174 for the Integrated watch and 768 on the bracelet, and 176 for the Time Only and 748 on the bracelet, set by Hublot’s master stone-setter (nice to know these Game Of Thrones-sounding jobs still exist).
The major differences are the complications and all the attending changes that go with them: diameter, movement, and thickness. The Time Only is a bit of a misnomer as there is a date window, but aside from that it keeps things relatively restrained on the internal bells and whistles. It runs on the in-house MHUB1710 movement, found in previous Time Only Big Bangs and based on a Zenith movement, which ticks away at 4Hz with about 50 hours of power reserve all visible through the sapphire crystal on the dial. It measures a demure (for Hublot) 40mm and comes in just under the 10mm thickness mark at 9.25mm.
The Hublot Integrated King Gold is a chronograph powered by the MHUB1280, another self-winding in-house movement, this time with chronograph flyback and column wheel. The integrated bracelet is relatively new to the Big Bang line, joining the signature rubber strap in 202o, and only available on the Big Bang in 40mm since 2022. The case is a standard but not gargantuan (again, by Hublot standards) 42mm and 13.45mm thick. It has 72 hours of power reserve and 100m water resistance, but why dive for treasure when it’s already on your wrist?
There’s something so charming about Hublot hearing cries across the watch world for smaller watches and more integrated bracelets – not to mention 2o22’s biggest design trend – and putting them all into a watch that’s so distinctly Hublot. Classic sport watch appeal and a size that is more “wrist-friendly?” You can have it, but you’ll have it the Hublot way.
Looking at these watches through the lens of “did it accomplish what it set out to accomplish?” these certainly look to be a big success. I’m not a master gem-setter (unfortunately!) but I think that finding enough gems of standard and cutting and arranging them just so on this bruiser of a watch is almost more impressive than a more “tasteful” application of diamonds on the dial or bezel of a smaller more delicate watch. The result is loud and attention-grabbing, as it was meant to be, so points for that, but when I think about the margin of error in crafting a bracelet with 768 gems on it I can’t help but be impressed.
The dial of the chronograph is very, very busy, but [9os sitcom voice] that’s Hublot! And I do think there’s an interesting tension between the rugged, dark openwork gears and the meticulous and whimsical dial that gives a little more heft and intention to the busy-ness.
And while Hublot is no stranger to the rainbow trend, both with gems and without, the combination of precious gold and integrated bracelet makes this go-around feel, dare I say, more grown up? It’s the thinking person’s big-ass Rainbow Hublot. And if you’re already on board with Hublot and all of the dramatic, daring, and denim watches that have come before, this Rainbow might be your pot of gold.
