Photographs by Ed Rhee
If cash isn’t a lot of a difficulty for you, maybe a color-hued sapphire crystal watch case is due? Do you recall only a few years in the past that clear sapphire circumstances had been all the trend? Hublot was one of many early adopters of utilizing artificial sapphire crystals for watch circumstances, not lengthy after Richard Mille first debuted its seminal million-dollar-plus sapphire-cased timepiece. The primary sapphire-case Hublot was the Hublot Huge Bang UNICO Sapphire, and since then, maybe no different model has embraced sapphire crystal as a case materials as a lot. Although sapphire watches are nonetheless relatively costly, the price of making such watches has come down, and extra importantly, extra selection is out there via colours. That ought to assist clarify some context behind this Hublot MP-11 Water Blue Sapphire that I am going hands-on with at the moment.
Artificial sapphire crystal may be created with a variety of shade tints. I’m not an skilled within the formulation of artificial sapphire, however I perceive that it’s attainable to insert pigmentation within the formation course of. This pigmentation may end up in very sturdy, deep colours, or just add a shade tint, leading to a principally clear crystal formulation with a selected shade hue. Hublot has taken benefit of this reality extra so than some other luxurious watch model I can consider. In lower than 10 years Hublot has launched sapphire watch circumstances in quite a lot of colours (together with clear fashions as properly) together with grey, yellow, orange, purple, and a number of shades of blue. They name this explicit hue “water blue,” and it makes for a really fairly case shade. Whereas clear sapphire circumstances are actually fascinating, what many individuals have discovered is that coloured sapphire circumstances are a bit extra modern. Not solely is it fairly a problem to match a strap to a transparent sapphire case (I’ve not seen one but and not one of the semi-transparent clear straps enchantment to me), however it may be a bit too summary for many individuals to type them with their outfits. And sure, when spending the sort of cash on a novelty luxurious timepiece, folks actually do contemplate how one can put on it and if it goes with one thing of their wardrobe (particularly since most individuals don’t have clear or clear clothes to pair such a timepiece with).
Hublot has by no means instructed me precisely which colours work finest, or the worth factors that take advantage of sense for its sapphire crystal circumstances. Hublot has experimented with sapphire watches costing ‘solely’ within the tens of hundreds of {dollars}, and means as much as unique bracelet-based fashions with tourbillons with a worth of round half 1,000,000 {dollars}. I feel the corporate is taking a rainbow method (each actually and figuratively), by providing as a lot selection as they will with sapphire watches together with when it comes to each colours and timepiece types. The place does the Hublot MP-11 (Masterpiece 11) Water Blue Sapphire slot in?
By advantage of it being an MP household watch, this product is actually going to be extra high-end and unique. The MP-11 product is an fascinating watch that mixes the Huge Bang case with a few of Hublot’s lengthy energy reserve expertise and and not using a tourbillon. The in-house caliber HUB9011 manually-wound mechanical motion is a mix of wearable measurement and lengthy energy reserve. The motion doesn’t have the longer energy reserve obtainable from Hublot, however it is kind of “historically wearable.” The Huge Bang type does nevertheless have to be specifically engineered to accommodate the stack of seven particular person mainspring barrels which are positioned utilizing a horizontal orientation. Working at 3Hz, the HUB9011 has a formidable energy reserve of 14 days. It additionally has a drum-style energy reserve indicator on the left aspect of the coupled mainspring barrel stack.
Given the area required by the mainspring barrels, the case has an apparent “velocity bump.” This was all the time a part of the entrance sapphire crystal, and now (relatively attractively) that complete form is built-in into the sapphire case. Whereas the “bump” just isn’t per se enticing, Hublot does a strong job of making a cohesive design for the case, such that the motion seems like an unique mechanism versus an oddity positioned in a case that was by no means actually supposed for it. A watch just like the MP-11, in my view, is a relatively good compromise between the wants of a relatively wild mechanical motion, and the recognition of the Huge Bang UNICO-style case.
The skeletonized dial matches the transparency theme of the general timepiece properly. That additionally extends to the caseback view. Apart from the ability reserve, the dial solely signifies the time by way of hours and minutes on a subsidiary dial (which is about as legible as might be given the scale and general skeletonization). The Hublot Huge Bang MP-11 case is 45mm extensive and water-resistant to a relatively scant 30 meters. Making sapphire circumstances as water resistant as steel case remains to be one thing engineers try to work out. The rigidity of the case materials as in comparison with steel is a part of the issue. I’ve written previously that really water resistant sapphire watch circumstances will have to be engineered utilizing totally new ideas of meeting, rethinking how the components match collectively. At the moment, most sapphire watches merely use the identical shapes that had been supposed for steel watches (a cloth that may bend a bit with out breaking) however exchange conventional elements for these machined out of sapphire. I can’t wait to see the primary 100 or 300-meter water resistant sapphire watch. Then Hublot can have a brand new use for its “water blue” shade of sapphire crystal.
Hublot pairs the Huge Bang MP-11 Energy Reserve 14 Days Water Blue Sapphire watch with an identical mild blue rubber strap, which may be eliminated simply due to Hublot’s quick-release system for the strap (although you will want one other suitable Hublot strap to interchange it with). Sapphire watches should not for everybody, and whereas sapphire crystals are extraordinarily exhausting and scratch-resistant, they aren’t shock-resistant. A tough drop may be “deadly.” Which means it requires a particular kind of collector who can each admire and child these watches correctly. With that stated, no plastic watch can actually compete with the attract and tactile sensation of sapphire (to not point out that clear plastic watches are likely to age very poorly). That’s the reason this materials has confirmed so compelling to be used in high-end watches, and Hublot is often on the vanguard of the pack. The Hublot Huge Bang MP-11 Energy Reserve 14 Days Water Blue Sapphire (reference 911.JL.0129.RX) is made as a restricted version of fifty items and has a retail worth of $171,000 USD. Be taught extra on the Hublot web site.
