Big Bang

The Big Bang was presented in Basel in April 2005, Jean-Claude Biver's first major project after taking the helm of Hublot the previous year. The name, evoking the cosmic explosion at the origin of the universe, sums up the project's ambition: to shake up a struggling brand by applying, in an even more radical way, the Art of Fusion principle formulated in 1980. The result is a chronograph with an imposing, square case, an exposed bezel fixed with six H-shaped screws, available in unprecedented combinations of materials — ceramic, titanium, gold, rubber, and later kevlar and carbon as well.

The reception was immediate: orders tripled within a year and the model received recognition such as the Design Prize at the 2005 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève. The group's sales rose from about 24 million Swiss francs in 2004 to nearly 100 million in 2006, a leap that established the Big Bang as the engine of the brand's revival and paved the way, in 2008, for Hublot's entry into the LVMH group.

A decisive technical step came in 2010, when Hublot introduced the UNICO caliber (HUB1242, later evolved into HUB1280): a column-wheel chronograph movement entirely developed and produced in-house, which for the first time allowed an architecture entirely signed by the brand to be displayed on the Big Bang's dial. Since then the line has expanded with countless variants and special editions, including collaborations with Ferrari, sports sponsorships tied to the FIFA World Cup and Formula 1, and the 2011 introduction of Magic Gold, the first virtually scratchproof 18-karat gold developed in-house by the brand.