The Monochromatic Hublot Spirit Of Big Bang Essential Grey

We’ve been raving on and on about the profound use of colour within the watchmaking industry these past couple of months (and years). And yes, there have been countless vibrant, expressive and often quite cool and colourful watches, but what if you’re in the market for something a little less bright and eye-popping? What if you’re looking for something more, let’s say, monochromatic but still want it fit for summer? You’re in luck, as Hublot has just presented a lightweight titanium version of its Spirit of Big Bang in toned-down full-grey attire. This is the new and limited Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Essential Grey.

Hublot’s watches are never shy of showing off what they are, as more often than not, the brand likes to play around with colours, textures and materials. A case in point is the recent Nespresso, Sky Blue and Texalium editions of its signature Big Bang. This new Spirit of Big Bang, nestled in between the Big Bang and Square Bang in terms of design and shape, takes a different approach, at least when it comes to colour; it has none. The tonneau-shaped case is machined out of lightweight titanium and polished and satin-finished. Despite the lack of colour, it’s still a very expressive watch with lots of angles, facets, alternating textures and details, as found on the titanium bezel, crown and pushers, for instance.

The Spirit of Big Bang Essential Grey lacks a traditional dial and instead has a sapphire crystal one with applied hour indices to go over the skeletonized movement. The hands, as well as the indices, are finished with Super-LumiNova. Besides central hours and minutes, you can clearly see how everything is constructed, from the chronograph indications to the fully exposed date wheel (a frame at 4:30 shows you the correct date) and the rest of the mechanics. The monochromatic colour palette does mean everything blends in a little bit, so instinctively telling the time and checking the progress of the chronograph might be a bit tricky.

Hidden in plain sight is the calibre HUB4700, a skeletonized version of Zenith’s El Primero automatic high-frequency column-wheel chronograph. This runs at a pace of 36,000vph (or 5Hz) and is constructed using 278 components. When fully wound by the skeletonized central rotor, finished with Hublot’s H-shaped logo, of course, it holds up to 50 hours of power reserve. The back side is also where you can spot only the bare minimum of colour, thanks to the ruby-red jewels, blued screws and gold-coloured balance spring stud. Other than that, the Essential Grey theme continues here as well.

The monochromatic Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Essential grey is limited to 100 pieces and comes with a black and silver lined rubber strap on a folding buckle and an additional grey fabric strap with a Velcro and black ceramic buckle closing system. The watch retails for CHF 22,900 / EUR 25,200 / USD 24,100 / GBP 20,800 and is exclusively sold in Hublot’s online boutique.

For more information, please visit Hublot.com.