When the fine arts of watchmaking and jewellery-making come together, special creations are always bound to happen. This is more-so evident with Hublot timepieces, where the boundaries are already pushed for extravagant designs. Add to the mix colourful gems and what you get is an artistic masterpiece for the wrist. This is very much the case in Hublot’s latest release; the Big Bang Unico Full Baguette King Gold Rainbow.
The Big Bang Unico King Gold is already a special piece to being with, being unique with the column wheel shown on the dial side. Hublot has retained the base model’s performance and movement characteristics and increased the visual appeal by giving it a complete overhaul with gemstones. The Big Bang Unico Full Baguette King Gold Rainbow is designed with a rainbow of brightly coloured gemstones set into an 18ct pink gold case.
The bezel showcases the rainbow effect of the gemstones to the fullest, with the gems on the case matching parts of the bezel. Starting at 12 o’clock, there are scarlet gemstones, which then transitions into fuchsia to the ultraviolet. Ultraviolet then blends into Klein blue, turquoise, sky blue, and green which has been shaded in chlorophyll making it appear softer. This chlorophyll green then moves into and vibrant yellow which then finally transitions into a warm orange. A total of 112 Baguette-cut coloured gemstones are used to make this rainbow effect on the bezel. The 18K polished King Gold 45mm case features 100 gemstones that match the colours on the bezel.
The dial features the same King Gold backdrop that the case has, which serves well to not only make the gemstones stand out but also the movement underneath as well. The outer ring of the bezel features rectangular gemstones that match the bezel rainbow effect directly. This is then transitioned onto the hour indexes, with each hour marker reflecting the colour it’s adjacent to on the bezel. The outer rings of the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock sub-counters also have the same rainbow gemstone setting.
The hour and minute hand along with the chronograph seconds hand have been done in King Gold finish to match the rest of the dial. Visibility of the hour and minute hands can be a bit hindered as the colour matches the backdrop; however, with the added white SuperLuminova, this is enough to distinguish the two apart. The movement underneath can be seen fairly clearly due to the colour variance between the dial and the monochrome movement.
The movement behind this elegant timepiece is Hublot’s UNICO Manufacture Self-winding Chronograph Flyback Movement with Column wheel (HUB1242). The HUB1242 movement gives out a power reserve of approximately 72 hours and comes with a frequency of 4 Hz (28, 800 VpH). With the polished 18k King gold and Sapphire crystal case back, the HUB1242 movement can be seen more clearly.
As the final touch to this exquisite timepiece, the alligator and natural rubber strap are illuminated with the buckle clasp set with another 30 beautiful gemstones. All in all, the Big Bang Unico Full Baguette King Gold Rainbow features 290 precious and fine gemstones to make an audacious joyful spectrum of colour on what is already a unique timepiece.
Ricardo Guadalupe (CEO Hublot) stated it best in regards to the creation of this timepiece by saying; “it requires meticulousness, expertise and dexterity to obtain this harmonious gradation of the gemstones and create a perfect connection between the emotion they arouse and the watchmaking technique. Draughtsmen, gemologists and setters worked together to achieve this setting in which pink gold is present only to gently emphasise the contours. The Big Bang Unico Full Baguette King Gold Rainbow condenses the purity and precision of these incredible professions.”
