The Matterhorn is an iconic mountain located in Switzerland and has become an emblem for the European country. Much like the country itself, the Matterhorn brilliantly captures the different faces of its identity. The unique pyramidal form the mountain takes makes it easily recognisable among the other thousands of Alpine peaks. You might recognise this iconic mountain from another iconic item, such as the Toblerone chocolate, which uses the mountain’s peak as the image for their brand.
Hublot’s latest timepieces are a tribute to the legendary Matterhorn. The Matterhorn is thought of as one of the toughest climbs in the world. As Hublot put it, the Matterhorn has “Immaculate white slopes gild the hulking mass of rock, born in the first convulsions of the Big Bang and standing defiant against the ravages of time.” In celebrating this Swiss icon, Hublot has released a limited-edition timepiece for both men and women that are created with a lot of ceramic, an incredible mineral material.
Hublot has chosen the Big Bang “All Black” as the centrepiece on which the tribute to the Matterhorn will be displayed. The Hublot Big Bang All Black Zermatt is created for men and women, with the two different models sharing similar identities yet being different. The two watches are almost like seeing the different faces of the same mountain.
Design:
The men’s model comes in a 44mm micro-blasted black ceramic case and bezel. As the name suggests, the watch has an “all-black” appearance from the strap to the case, to the dial. The dial itself is a grey sunray sating-finish. The hour markers and hands are satin-finished and black plated. Although it can be hard to see, the sunray finish grey dial does help separate it from the markers and hands. The hands also have been imprinted with black luminescent material, which is sure to light up the dial at night.
Three-counters are shown on the dial, with a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock, and a constant second counter at 9 o’clock. Where the constant seconds counter is shown is also where Hublot has paid tribute to the iconic Matterhorn. The mountain range is depicted within the seconds counter and is what easily stands out on the all-black appearance of the dial.
The movement used inside the men’s 44mm version is the brand’s own calibre HUB4100 movement. This movement operates at a frequency of 4Hz (28, 800 VpH) and can give out a power reserve of approximately 42 hours. The movement can also be on the open case back of the timepiece. The case back also has the engraving “ZERMATT EDITION” “XXX/100”.
The ladies’ version of the Big Bang All Black Zermatt follows a similar design path to the men. It’s faithful to the all-black aesthetic with the timepiece dressed in all black and grey tones. The ladies’ version is however slightly smaller at 41mm, however still keeps the same micro-blasted black ceramic case. The bezel is dressed up with 36 black diamonds being used for 1.80 cts.
The dial design also has some differences compared to the men’s model. A total of eight black diamonds have been used for the hour markers for 0.14cts. Along with the diamonds, another noticeable change is the tri-counter layout. The 30-minute and constant seconds have been swapped around, meaning that the image of the Matterhorn is now shown on the 3 o’clock counter. Hublot has done this so that it represents the other facet of the symbolic mountain.
The movement used inside the ladies’ version is the Hublot calibre HUB4100. This self-winding movement operates at a frequency of 4hz (28, 800 VpH) and has a power reserve of up to 42 hours.
The ladies’ version also comes with an open case back which shows the HUB4100 movement, and also has the engraving “ZERMATT EDITION” “XX/50”.
The men’s model is limited to 100 units while the ladies have a run of 50 units. Both models come with a black rubber and grey calf with grey stitching strap, which helps compliment the all-black appearance of the watch quite nicely.
