As the years pass, a familiar pattern emerges. Despite recent leadership changes at LVMH’s top watch brands, the momentum engineered by Ricardo Guadalupe remains in full force, generating innovative materials, disruptive design, and ever more creative partnerships. For LVMH Watch Week, where we’ll see the first crop of 2024’s new offerings, Hublot is starting as it means to go on, firmly focused on the future.
The standout among these early-year novelties is the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium, whose breath-taking design challenges the norms of classic watchmaking, from the case structure to the various displays that confidently do away with traditional hands. “For a piece to join our MP collection, it must do more than merely rehash existing complications,” Ricardo Guadalupe emphasises. “It must create something exclusive: invent, build, and break new ground in watchmaking research.” This is precisely what the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium achieves.
Ultra-technical yet surprisingly simple
Five years of development, 592 components, a 35° inclined tourbillon, a circular power reserve, a pending patent application, and only 50 pieces available. While the numbers will certainly give you some idea of Hublot’s horological prowess, it’s when you strap the watch to your wrist that you truly appreciate it. Against all expectations, despite its XXL dimensions of 54.1 x 41.5 mm, the watch is eminently wearable. There are no angles, only curves fashioned from sapphire and titanium, creating an extraordinary case that might suggest it will be a challenge to actually tell the time. But yet again, despite its ultra-technical appearance, the new MP-10 is surprisingly simple. Hour and minute indications are provided by rollers, the seconds are displayed on a disc at 6 o’clock, and the 48-hour power reserve indication appears on a coaxial disc alongside the hours and minutes, with red and green accents. To power the automatic winding, two white gold blocks slide freely along two vertical axes, one on each side of the watch. This is some impressive R&D!
Colourful innovations
The remaining new releases focus more on continuity, and they are, unsurprisingly, vibrant in colour. This year, Hublot continues its collaboration with artist Richard Orlinski, who lends his name to the Classic Fusion Tourbillon available in two limited editions of 30 pieces each. Whether in pop-art yellow or pastel blue, the 45 mm case is sculpted with the sharp angles that are a signature of the work of France’s top-selling artist. The dial is dispensed with, allowing the manual-winding tourbillon movement HUB6021 to take centre stage, emphasising the watch’s transparency. The result is two pieces that blend disruptive design with the proven architecture and performance of a skeleton movement. “In an era of one-off ‘collabs’, Hublot has shown that every year we can push the boundaries of art and watchmaking with creations that are ever stronger, unique, and different,” the Hublot CEO explains. “You don’t reach this level of maturity in just 3 months. We’ve been working with Richard for 8 years, and it’s not over yet!”
This loyalty is also reflected in the use of colours. The brand has repeatedly excelled in the creation of sapphire cases in various shades. It continues to explore the colour palette with Saxem, a revolutionary material that Hublot is now launching in a third hue – following yellow and emerald. The new Big Bang Unico Green Saxem comes in a limited edition of 100 pieces. But what exactly is Saxem? It’s a close relative of sapphire, with a cubic structure that can be tinted with rare earth elements. It appears to be just as scratch-resistant as its cousin, but with even greater brilliance. “It took nearly two years of R&D for us to create a stable, homogeneous colour within a compound as perfect and stable as sapphire, but with a different appearance,” notes Ricardo Guadalupe. Hublot first used Saxem in 2019, and unsurprisingly, that watch was an MP. Things appear to have come full circle, but we can reasonably expect to see further innovations, starting in the spring, within the elegant aisles of Watches and Wonders.
