Sameera Gamage 
Hublot has been creating timepieces each year to celebrate the zodiac animals of the Chinese Lunisolar Calendar, with this latest creation being a creative Spirit of Big Bang Year of the Snake!
Since 2016, Hublot has celebrated the Chinese New Year with beautifully created timepieces that are artworks on the wrist. Each of these special Chinese New Year timepieces for the past 10 years has been based on Hublot’s Spirit of Big Bang timepiece. It serves as the perfect base to create something artistic, with the barrel-shaped case allowing plenty of room on the dial and giving Hublot designers space to roam free with creativity.
For this year’s Chinese zodiac animal, Hublot has crafted an ornate rendition of the snake, which extends from the dial to the case and even the strap of the Spirit of Big Bang. The barrel-shaped shaped case is made from black ceramic, which serves to let the dial really stand out. What I also like about the case design is that the screwed ceramic bezel has been intricately engraved to mimick a snakes skin, with this pattern continuing onto the strap. Almost looks like you have a black mamba snake wrapped around your wrist!
The dial design of this Spirit of Big Bang Year Of The Snake makes this easily one of my favourite zodiac snake-inspired timepieces. Firstly, we have the see through movement that is a signature design of the Spirt of Big Bang, allowing the wearer to see the date wheel around the dial alongside. The movement has been done in black, which matches the case nicely, but also lets the gold elements of the dial stand out beautifully.
These gold elements start with the hour indices, with the minute track also being done in gold. The partially skeleton hands are also in gold, which when it contrasts against the black background makes it easy to read the time. The highlight of the dial is, of course, the golden snake. Hublot states that “the gold-plated snake is crafted with lifelike details that have been engraved with astounding precision thanks to the latest advancements in laser technologies. Carefully positioned as if slithering around the chronograph’s three counters, the serpent immediately catches the eye and intrigues.”
As mentioned, the snake is carefully designed with the utmost detail to slither around the chronograph counters, and what I love about this design is how balanced and proportional it looks. The tail starts at 6 o’clock; the body moves around at 6 o’clock 12-hour counter, then wraps around the 3 o’clock 30-minute counter before moving around the constant seconds counter at 9 o’clock, before finally having the snake’s head finish at 12 o’clock.
The movement powering this Spirit of Big Bang Year Of The Snake is the Hublot automatic skeleton chronograph calibre HUB4700. This movement is a modernised descendant of the historic and highly valued Zenith El Primero movement, the first Swiss high-frequency integrated chronograph calibre ever made. Visible from both the open dial and sapphire display back, the movement hosts a number of technical innovations and advancements compared to the original from 1969, including a low-friction silicon escape wheel. The HUB4700 movement is able to operate at a very high frequency of 5Hz (36,000 VpH), providing a greater level of accuracy while delivering a power reserve of 50 hours.
Final Thoughts
You know when Hublot starts designing artistic timepieces, it’s always going to be something special. The Spirit of Big Bang Year of the Snake is a perfect example of this. Most of the timepieces are blacked out, but they give a subtle design look from afar, with the case and strap details coming to life when the watch is worn.
The intricate design of the well-thought-out snake that slithers around the dial is something that the wearer will enjoy every time they look down at this timepiece. The colour combination of black and gold is powerful as it allows for a perfect contrast between the different elements, which in this case is letting the Chinese Year of the Snake stand out in what is undoubtedly a conversation-starter timepiece!
Reference: Spirt of Big Bang Year of the Snake – 642.CI.0180.RX.CNY25
Specification:
- Case Size: 42mm
- Case Thickness: 14.1mm
- Case Material: Microblasted and Polished Black Ceramic
- Dial: Sapphire Crystal with Goldplated Snake Applique
- Movement: HUB4700 Self-winding Skeleton Chronograph
- Movement Frequency: 36,000 VpH (5hZ)
- Movement Power reserve: 50hrs
- Water resistance: 10 bar (100 meters)
- Crystal: Sapphire glass with anti-reflective treatment on dial
- Bracelet/Strap: Black Rubber with Snake Skin Texture with Black Ceramic and Black-plated Titanium Deployant Buckle.
