Twenty years after the Big Bang first crashed the party in 2005, Hublot has done what it probably should have done a long time ago. It’s taken the openworked Big Bang Unico and rebuilt it from the inside out, putting the manufacture chronograph calibre front and centre instead of leaving it buried under layers of skeleton dial.
The result is the Big Bang Reloaded, and it’s the clearest, most confident expression of the Unico movement Hublot has ever produced.
The concept is straightforward. The HUB1280 Unico has five patented innovations, including a backlash-compensating oscillating clutch, an anti-shaking chronograph hand system and a zero-friction ratchet wheel blocker.
In previous Big Bang Unicos, you could see some of that through the dial. In the Reloaded, Hublot has redesigned the architecture so four of those five patents are now visually legible from the front. The column wheel at 6 o’clock gets a colour highlight.
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The dual oscillating clutch at 8 o’clock is exposed. The chronograph counter at 3 o’clock has been redesigned, the date repositioned between 4 and 5 o’clock, and the flyback function picked out in contrasting colour accents.
On the caseback, a new openworked rotor features a cut-out H engraved with “Hublot. Design. Manufacture. Nyon.” The whole thing runs at 4 Hz with a 72-hour power reserve and 354 components. None of that is new for the Unico. What’s new is that you can actually see it all working.
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Five Materials, Five References
The permanent collection launches in five variants, and each one ties back to a milestone year for Hublot. The titanium and black ceramic model is the entry point at 19,900 CHF (around $24,000 USD), recalling the first Big Bang Unico of 2013 with its mix of aerospace-grade titanium and technical ceramic.
There are two full-ceramic pieces in blue and dark green, both at 20,900 CHF. An All Black ceramic edition marks 20 years since the concept launched in 2006, the radical “visibility through invisibility” idea where tone-on-tone black finishes let the watch disappear in plain sight. Same price.
And then there’s the Magic Gold variant at 36,900 CHF. For the uninitiated, Magic Gold is Hublot’s proprietary 18K gold alloy developed with EPFL’s metallurgy lab, fusing gold with boron carbide to create a scratch-resistant gold that rates as the second hardest material after diamond. It’s been 15 years since it debuted, and it remains unique to Hublot. Nobody else has it.
All five come in 44mm cases with the One Click strap system, 100m water resistance and two wristbands (a fabric-inspired rubber with H-pattern stitching and a classic black rubber).
Specifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Case size | 44mm |
| Movement | HUB1280 Unico, self-winding flyback chronograph, column wheel |
| Power reserve | 72 hours |
| Components | 354 |
| Frequency | 4 Hz (28,800 vph) |
| Water resistance | 100m |
| Strap | Two interchangeable One Click wristbands (fabric-inspired rubber + black rubber) |
| Variant | Reference | Case material | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Titanium | 421.NM.1123.NR.RLD | Satin-finished titanium + black ceramic | 19,900 CHF / $24,000 USD |
| All Black Ceramic | 421.CX.1140.NR.RLD | Black ceramic | 20,900 CHF / $25,200 USD |
| Blue Ceramic | 421.EX.5129.NR.RLD | Blue ceramic | 20,900 CHF / $25,200 USD |
| Dark Green Ceramic | 421.NM.1123.NR.RLD | Dark green ceramic | 20,900 CHF / $25,200 USD |
| Magic Gold | 421.MX.1133.NR.RLD | 18K Magic Gold | 36,900 CHF / $44,500 USD |
Mbappé Gets His First Hublot
Kylian Mbappé has been a Hublot ambassador since 2018, but the Big Bang Reloaded Kylian Mbappé is the first watch actually developed alongside him.
Limited to 200 pieces at 24,900 CHF, it pairs polished white ceramic with 18K King Gold and leans hard into Mbappé’s personal codes.
The number 10, his squad number, is picked out in King Gold on the dial. His mantra “Trust Yourself” is engraved at 6 o’clock on the bezel. The skeletonised dial is matte anthracite ruthenium-plated with white accents, and the chronograph elements are highlighted in yellow and King Gold.
Two interchangeable straps: a King Gold-toned fabric Velcro and a black-and-white rubber lined with the KM logo on the inner strap.
It’s a footballer’s watch in every sense. Whether that appeals to you depends entirely on how you feel about athlete editions. The white ceramic and King Gold combination is actually quite striking in isolation, regardless of whose name is on it. The 44mm case and 14.5mm thickness mean it wears large, which tracks with the man it’s built for.
Specifications
| Spec | Big Bang Reloaded Kylian Mbappé |
|---|---|
| Reference | 421.HX.2019.NR.MBP26 |
| Case | 44mm, polished white ceramic + 18K King Gold |
| Movement | MHUB1280 Unico, self-winding flyback chronograph, column wheel |
| Power reserve | 72 hours |
| Dial | Matte grey plated, white skeleton |
| Bezel | 18K King Gold, engraved “Trust Yourself,” white ceramic upper bezel |
| Edition | Limited to 200 pieces |
| Price | 24,900 CHF / $30,000 USD |
Bolt’s Is Better
Hand on heart, the Usain Bolt edition is the more interesting of the two athlete pieces. Same 200-piece limit, same 24,900 CHF price, but the details are wilder.
The numerals between 6 and 8 o’clock read 6-5-8. Flip them and you get 9.58, Bolt’s 100m world record from Berlin in 2009. The chronograph seconds hand is shaped like a lightning bolt, referencing Bolt’s signature pose.
The bezel is 18K yellow gold and frosted carbon with “Anything is Possible, Don’t Think Limits” engraved around it. And here’s the genuinely mad part: inside the caseback, suspended between two sapphire crystals in a lightning bolt shape, is actual soil from Bolt’s childhood training ground in Jamaica. Ja-making me thirsty for this watch.
Compressed dirt from a Jamaican track, encapsulated in sapphire, inside a Swiss chronograph. That’s either brilliantly committed or completely unhinged, and I’m not sure there’s a difference. The black ceramic and carbon case with yellow gold accents also works better visually than the Mbappé’s white and gold, at least to these eyes.
Specifications
| Spec | Big Bang Reloaded Usain Bolt |
|---|---|
| Reference | 421.CQ.1140.NR.USB26 |
| Case | 44mm, satin-finished black ceramic |
| Movement | HUB1280 Unico, self-winding flyback chronograph, column wheel |
| Power reserve | 72 hours |
| Dial | Matte black skeleton, lightning bolt chronograph hand |
| Bezel | 18K yellow gold + frosted carbon, engraved “Anything is Possible, Don’t Think Limits” |
| Caseback | Jamaican soil sample in lightning bolt sapphire crystal |
| Edition | Limited to 200 pieces |
| Price | 24,900 CHF / $30,000 USD |
DMARGE’s Two Seconds
Hublot has always been the brand that divides rooms. You either buy the fusion philosophy or you think it’s all noise. But the Big Bang Reloaded is hard to dismiss. Stripping back the presentation to let the Unico’s engineering speak for itself is exactly the kind of move a brand makes when it’s confident in what’s underneath the skin.
What Hublot is really doing here is proving it has a genuine manufacture identity, not just a marketing one. Sixteen years after the Unico debuted, this is the most convincing argument yet that the movement deserves to be seen.
You’re going to hate me for saying this, but Hublot is really picking up its game and taking it to the likes of Richard Mille.
