This year a piece unique from Hublot won the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve prize for jewelery watch of the year, 2009. The watch is as ostentatious as it is pretentious. I actually like the look of the watch a lot, and even though inside of me I would like to wear the timepiece, it is hard to swallow the blatant excess built into the timepiece. The inflated price point is even built into the name of the watch. For me, a name like "Million $ Black Caviar Bang" sounds about as classy as "One Thousand Dollar Bubbly Champagne." Don't forget, "more bubbly, more buck!" Don't any of you go stealing my business ideas now...

Hublot made the million dollar big bang watch out of white gold and rare baguette cut black diamonds. almost 550 diamonds are all over the watch, with a total of 34.5 carats. Hublot took its time making the watch. Over 2000 hours went into it. The movement is a manually wound tourbillon. Functions include the time (tourbillon acts as the seconds indicator), and a power reserve indicator.

Why did it win best jewelry watch in Geneva? I am not sure. Perhaps because it is rare, took a lot of time to make, is for men, and is actually quite attractive. Is nice jewelry is supposed to inspire envy, awe, and a bit of anger? If so, then the Hublot Million $ Caviar Bang was a good choice to win.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com

More of the same? Or less of more? I can't really decide because while I trust that there is something new here from Hublot, my senses tell me that this has basically been released before. Hublot hit a home run a few years ago with the Big Bang watch line. Since then, most of their new watches have been some variation on the Big Bang. A new model would be released that was simply done in a slightly different material or color. And to keep things fresh, Hublot attempted to give each of these new models some silly name (like the also new Hublot Tutti Frutti Hazelnut... yes, that is actually what they are calling it).

So in this instance, Hublot hasn't even tried to give the watch a clever name. They just call it the "Big Bang Gold," and it is in gold. Feels sort of uninspired... or has the inspiration ship long departed from Hublot's dock and I am only now noticing it? Now, I actually like the watch as it is, but as a new model, and given everything else that Hublot has released, I am scratching my head to figure out if I am missing anything to understand what is new. The watch is in 18k rose gold and 44.5mm wide. Of course other materials exist on the case such as the titanium screws, rubber, and the black material sandwiched by the gold. There is 100 meters of water resistance, and the movement is an automatic HUB4100 all nicely decorated with a tungsten carbide automatic rotor in black PVD.

Even the dial represents the now classic Big Bang looks. So in that regard I will just consider this model a retro model looking back at the original Hublot Big Bang, that debuts only several years ago, but feels classic now!

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Does this watch make you think of a black eye? Well it isn't an eye sore, but rather the Hublot Big Bang King All Black Blue watch. Hublot has been messing with various colors for the standard Big Bang chronograph line lately, but I haven't see this type of attention on the Big Bang King which is a diver's style watch - and larger at 48m wide. I have to admit that I really think this is a sexy watch - somehow adding a virulent character to the otherwise somber color tone.

Diver watch elements on the Big Bang King include the 300 meters of water resistance, diver's style face with large legible dial, and the rotating diver bezel, of course. Here the bezel is made out of matte finished ceramic. The bezel numerals are in an attractive high relief that I am a fan of. The blue on the hands and hour indicators seems to almost exist only on the periphery, though you can tell the insides are colored black, the edges are all deep blue. You also have the blue insert between the bezel and the case. Most of the watch is in matte ceramic. Inside is the HUB1400 automatic movement. The blue alligator strap actually sandwiches a layer of rubber that makes it more flexible. Looking at the dial (sandblasted and rhodium plated) with the blues and black just makes for a great looking Hublot watch. Now that I think of it, as a diver watch I imagine the cold abyss of the ocean with colors such as this. The watch is available in a limited edition of 500 pieces.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

More with the gray watch trend? Where do these fads come from? Just recently I wrote about the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Gray that shared this theme, and no doubt there will be more. This watch is surely for the ladies, but will likely be available for men as well. I say that this is a ladies watch because the case is 41mm wide, which is typically the size Hublot reserves for its women's Big Bang watches - the male versions are at least 44mm wide, but now that I think about it -men who like the style could also enjoy it. Aside from the trendy gray colored dial, this watch has two interesting things to notice. First, is the metal bracelet, that I've never seen on the Hublot Big Bang watch line (though it is possible it was around before). It makes total sense for the watch to be coupled with a metal bracelet, and here is the first glimpse I've seen of one. Second is the fact that the watch is steel. Why is this important? Because steel is a lower cost metal and indicates Hublot realizes it cannot continue to fuel demand for its ultra decadent Big Bang watches constructed of exotic and/or precious materials. Though the screws are still titanium.

The case itself is a mixture of polished and satin surfaces, with a bezel inset with baguette cut diamonds. While diamond studded steel watches are not unheard of, does it really make that much sense? The dial is a fancy material called tantalum, which in this case is done with a soft satin gray look. The movement is the HUB1145 automatic mechanical chronograph movement, visible through the sapphire caseback window. While the watch does offer a rubber strap, go for the metal bracelet. Hublot hasn't been able to shed the whole "sandwiched" thing, so the bracelet is steel with "composite resin" in the middle. Not sure what that means, but it sounds like a fancy plastic or glue if you ask me.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

I like it when a limited edition watch partners with a limited edition car. In this case Hublot piggybacks on the lovely new limited run of 100 Morgan AeroMax cars. Most of the time, watches branded to cars have nothing in common with the car. That seems to be the case again in this instance, but at least you have the Morgan logo attached to a grill-like surface on the Aero Bang Morgan's dial. Again, on the rear of the watch, an decoration made specially for the Aero Bang Morgan celebrates the motorcar brand and limited edition vehicle.

Morgan is a British maker of retro-styled sports cars. While limited in production and not cheap, their prices are often much more reasonable than today's multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars exotic fare. Their newest AeroMax is a perfect edition to the line up, and utterly British. Last I heard, Morgan was using BMW engines, while the Hublot watch has a HUB44 SQ calibre automatic movement inside. Materials making up the watch are plentiful and sometimes as exotic as the AeroMax car. Nothing less than titanium, tungsten, ceramic, Kevlar, steel, and sapphire crystal make up the complex construction of the watch. At 44.5mm wide, it is a handsome statement worn in conjunction with the car, or otherwise. Interestingly enough, the limited edition watch will have 500 pieces, 400 more than the Morgan AeroMax car itself.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

There is a watch club many of us don't know about. Informal or not, the million dollar watch club boasts esteemed watch companies who have offered watches with prices of one million dollars or more. For a watch to reach such high value, an extremely decadent portion of precious jewels must be placed on most every millimeter of surface area on the face and case.

The newest member of the million dollar watch club is the Hublot Black Caviar Bang. Coming from the Big Bang line with all its derivatives, the Black Caviar Bang has an 18k white gold case and clasp that feature hundreds of precision cut black diamonds, for a total of 34.5 total carats. This includes 322 diamonds on the case, 179 on the bezel, and another 30 on the clasp at the end of the rubber strap. Black diamonds are exceedingly rare, and are attributed for most of the Black Caviar Bang's million dollar value.

Inside the watch is Hublot's specially manufactured manually wound HUB Solo T tourbillon movement. A beautifully designed face opens with a view on the one minute tourbillon, and diamonds are patterned into the face as the power reserve indicator. The design of the face is attractive and functional, but doesn't try very hard to be practical. With an impressive array of square cut black diamonds, the Hublot Black Caviar Bang register's high on the glitz scale as well as the exclusivity meter with a limited edition of only one piece.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Bernard Arnault, chairman of luxury goods monolith LVMH, says that despite dire economic predictions and reports of a falloff in parts of the luxury sector the company expects profits to actually improve in 2008. "We are in a position to meet our objectives for a sharp rise in earnings in 2008," Arnault just announced at LVMH's annual shareholders meeting, according to Women's Wear Daily. "Every time we've been [in a difficult economy] we've increased market share. We've started the year strong. We will not pull off [of the accelerator]. We are focused on innovating."

Arnault, whose company recently added Swiss watchmaker Hublot to its portfolio of luxury brands, singled out handbags as a strong earner. "There are tons of new leather goods," he declared. "The Richard Prince bag for Vuitton" - one of our Handbags of the Day -- "has been an immense success and we won't be able to meet demand," Arnault said. "We can't produce the pieces fast enough." He also predicted strong sales this year for Fendi, calling it "one of the most important Italian brands on the market," and Dior as well -- no doubt thanks to Charlize Theron's captivating fragrance ads (above).

Luxury behemoth LVMH has a new watchmaker in their growing watches and jewelry unit. They have announced that they will acquire Switzerland's Hublot watch group from the founder Carlo Crocco and a firm controlled by Jean-Claude Biver, who's managed the brand since 2004.

LVMH already owns several successful watch brands including TAG Heuer, Zenith, Dior Montres and Louis Vuitton watches. LVMH has announced plans to increase the brand's profile in Asia and Japan and expand retail distribution. Currently the watches are sold in 300 stores worldwide. Hopefully they won't dilute the brand too much, part of Hublot's power is that that they do a particular type of big beefy watch, the Big Bang, so well. The Hublot fans on the Time Zone Hublot forum definitely are excited about this move for Hublot.

Love your lady? This may the gift that speaks the language of love. Hublot's Valentine Big Bang watch exudes passion, luxury and glam all in one little package. Red gold, red rubber and gleaming diamonds round out this terrific time piece. Harnessing 114 round diamonds (1.22 karats) or 48 baguette diamonds (2.28 karats), it is sporty, elegant and eye-catching. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed to get this in a little red box!

Remember when the Hublot Big Bang watch seemed really, really big. These days the watch is about the same size as everyone else's but that doesn't make it any less interesting. The latest special edition of the Hublot Big Bang watch derives its punch from a sleek cloak of black enlivened only by a slash of a red signature and a colorful split second hand. The Hublot Big Bang Aryton Senna All Black Rattrapante sports the Ayrton Senna Institute, a non-profit institute founded by Viviane Senna, the sister of the deceased Brazilian racing driver, the Ayrton Senna. The watch is a Chronograph Split-Second with Power Reserve indicator in black with Ayrton Senna's signature in red and the Brazilian flag in green and yellow on the Split-Second hand which can be used to record an intermediate time by means of the two chronograph seconds hands. The push-piece on the watch is red. The watch is the first Hublot to go on sale in Brazil. The 44.5 mm case is done in polished black ceramic resin details. The movement is the Hublot HUB44 RT mechanical chronograph Fly-back with automatic winding. It has a black rubber strap with the Ayrton Senna signature in yellow on a green stripe on the inside. There are 500 numbered pieces and it sells for $25,000.

This big white beauty is the new Big Bang Polo Club St. Tropez watch from Hublot. The 44 mm watch is done in steel with a white ceramic bezel and a white dial. The watch was made to celebrate the opening of Hublot's new St. Tropez store (their second single brand store in France). The movement is the Hublot calibre HUB44 developed with La Joux-Perret. The white theme continues with a lug disc in white resin, lateral inserts in white resin and a steel crown and push pieces that are steel with white rubber inserts. The only color comes from the Polo Club Saint-Tropez logo in blue on the dial. The watch has a strap that is a fusion of alligator skin and rubber with a steel deploying clasp and is a limited edition of 250.

It was inevitable, after all, Hublot has been steadily adding diamonds and gemstones to their Big Bang models for a while now. But the Million Dollar Bang outpaces them all. The watch includes a tourbillon and uses a "mystery" setting so that you don't see the settings, only the stones (493 of them to be precise). A traditional setting is used around the flying tourbillon. The Bunter SA workshop partnered with Hublot on the one-of-a-kind watch which took 2,000 hours to create. The case is 18K white gold and the watch uses a mechanical workshop-crafted movement. Don't get out your wallet for this piece it has already been sold. If you've got a Hublot craving they are introducing a few other new watches, the other are after the jump.

[via Luxury Launches and Time Zone]

The latest innovation from Hublot is the world's first tourbillon column-wheel chronograph. The sequel to their popular Big Bang watch, the Bigger Bang has a direct coupling on a flying tourbillon cage. The chronograph mechanism and column-wheel are visible via the dial at 12.00 o’clock. The watch has a dial-side column-wheel chronograph and flying tourbillon housed in a 13mm diameter cage without ball bearings. The watch has 262 components and the tourbillon is fitted with 33 rubies and a circular-grained right bottom plate decorated in black gold, The watch is available in three versions of 18 pieces each, there is a platinum case with a black ceramic bezel, an 18K red gold chase with a black ceramic bezel and an all back ceramic version.

Another Valentine-themed watch makes it's appearance. This time it's from Hublot, the company famed for their massive Big Bang watch. Their “St. Valentine” chronograph isn't exactly wimpy either, measuring 42.5mm. The watch has a burgundy flammé dial decorated with small hearts, large Arabic numerals and small numbers. The minute hand is finished with an arrow turning around the dial and there is a double sapphire anti-reflection crystal. The watch is done in steel treated with black PVD with an enlarged bezel in black rubber and 12 titanium screws. The strap is also black rubber. The watch sells for $8,200. I'm curious who the audience is for this, it may have hearts but it sure isn't a girly watch. And yet even though it has Hublot's typically masculine chunky style, it is still heart-festooned.

[via Time Zone]