Hublot Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic Review

It's no secret that we are huge fans of Hublot and particularly the Big Bang collection. We have owned several Big Bangs over the years and my wife's favorite watch happens to be a 41 mm Big Bang All Black. We were very involved in the watch industry when the original Big Bang launched and it was a true competitor to the reigning watch of the day, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. Another thing I'm always excited to see in watches, is the use of ceramic as a case material. Hublot was a true pioneer in ceramic watches and might be the best producer of ceramic watches currently.

Today we're going to look at a watch that fuses my love of the Big Bang with a ceramic case. Before we go more into detail about that watch, let's first go over a brief history of Hublot. Hublot was founded by Italian entrepreneur, Carlo Crocco, in 1980 and its headquarters were setup in Geneva, Switzerland. Crocco's family busy was the Binda Group which was best known for producing Breil watches. Crocco left the Binda Group in 1976 with the vision of starting his own watch brand to his own tastes. Crocco was inspired by the sea and named his first watch and finally the brand, Hublot, meaning "porthole" in French.



At the 1980 Basel Watch Fair, Crocco unveiled his first creation, "The Hublot", to a crowd that was astonished and confused by his creation. Crocco used the high luxury and traditional case material of solid gold and paired it with a rubber strap, something that had never been done before. The move was controversial and challenged the whole idea and codes of luxury watchmaking.

Although not initially a sales hit, over time the watch gained its audience and started to become a mild success. Those who were extremely fashion forward loved the Italian design and comfort found from the rubber strap. Crocco spent endless time developing the rubber strap to be both supple and mask the odor that can come from rubber straps. This initial watch was later renamed the "Classic" and it gained a cult following being popular with European royalty, celebrities and the upper class.



The 1980s and 1990s saw steady growth in Hublot and the brand was really only for those that were in the know. By the early 2000s, Crocco wanted to take a step back from the daily operations of the brand and was looking for somebody new and dynamic to take over leadership. Crocco found his man in Jean-Claude Biver, who had just revived both Omega and Blancpain from near ruin to become huge successes.

As CEO, Biver looked to expand upon the original concept created by Crocco of combining materials often not used together in watchmaking. The slogan Biver coined for this marriage of materials was "The Art of Fusion".This idea was best represented by the 2005 release of the Big Bang, which was a large and very complex watch containing bleeding edge materials. This integrated sports watch design used such materials as ceramic, titanium, Kevlar and rubber with traditional gold and steel.



The Big Bang was an overnight success and undercut the market darling of the Royal Oak Offshore by thousands of dollars at its retail price. The Big Bang even won "Best Design" at the GPHG the year of its release. With one watch, Biver had transformed sleepy and niche Hublot into a global powerhouse of a brand. What followed were unprecedented years of growth and innovation. Hublot also became heavily involved with sponsorships as large as FIFA, UEFA and Ferrari. The brand would become synonymous with releasing outrageous limited edition timepieces that completely pushed what was thought possible material wise in watchmaking.

This growth did not go un-noticed and in 2008 the luxury goods group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) ended up fully acquiring Hublot. Being under the ownership of LVMH has allowed Hublot to be as bold as possible when it comes to experimenting with new materials and movements without the fear of financial ruin if a release is received poorly. Under LVMH Hublot developed an industry first scratch-resistance gold in Magic Gold and created their first in-house movement, the flyback chronograph UNICO. Hublot now also has the ability to create insane in-house calibers with month's long power reserves and high complications such as tourbillons.





Initial Thoughts

Now that I've gone over a brief history of Hublot, let's now take a closer look at the Big Bang Unico Blue Magic. A few months ago we reviewed the Big Bang UNICO White Ceramic, which is very similar to the blue model we'll be looking at today. The main difference between the two watches, besides the color, is that the white version was 44 mm while this blue watch is 42 mm. I loved the white 44 mm watch and I'm used to the Big Bang being 44 mm, so I was very interested to see how the case being smaller by 2 mm would change the look and feel of the watch.

Truth be told, I'm not a fan of blue watches. I originally requested the orange ceramic watch, but none were available for review. The Blue Magic was offered instead and I hesitantly said yes. When the watch arrived, the first thing I noticed about it was the crazy blue color of the case. Since the blue ceramic is such an un-natural color and borderline cartoonish, I actually liked the look of the watch much more than I thought I would. The blue is both overpowering and subtle at the same time if that makes sense. It's kind of like you're wearing the watch more for how intense the color is over just being a fan of blue.



The second thing I noticed during my initial time with the Blue Magic was how little pressure is needed to get the chronograph pushers to activate. I noticed this during my time with the Big Bang UNICO White Ceramic as well. Recently I thought back to the UNICO pushers when Audemars Piguet released their new RD#5 Royal Oak where a defining features was how little force the chronograph pushers needed to operate. While I haven't had hands on with the RD#5, I can't imagine its pushers would be much easier to push than the ones on a newer UNICO movement. Even though the pushers require minimal effect to use, they still have a great tactile feeling.

The final thing I took note of during my first viewing of the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic was how expertly done the skeletonization of the dial and movement is done. The Blue Magic really doesn't have much of a dial, consisting only of a minute track, hands, hour markers and rings for the sub-dials. The real dial is made up by the top of the UNICO movement and things like the date ring are completely visible. Flipping the watch over also shows off the inner workings of the movement under a completely skeletonized winding rotor. If you're at all intrigued by all the little gears and parts inside of a mechanical watch, a watch fitted with a UNICO movement will give you endless hours of entertainment watching the caliber do its dance. An added bonus is also getting to watch the chronograph components start and stop when the pushers are depressed.





Technical Specifications

Having gone over both the history of Hublot along with my initial thoughts on the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic, let's now go through the technical specifications of the watch. The Blue Magic is crafted out of Deep Blue ceramic with its mid-case being made out of a black composite material. The watch has a somewhat unorthodox shape making it hard to accurately measure its case diameter. Hublot states the case diameter as 42 mm, but we got measurements closer to 44 mm. The lug to lug length is 52.1 mm when measured between the longer central lugs. For being a larger watch, the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic weighed in at 118 grams on our scale. At its thickest point the Blue Magic is 14.7 mm tall.

The Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic has a slightly raised flat sapphire crystal that has an anti-reflective coating on it. On the bottom side of the sapphire the Hublot logo and branding are printed in blue, since there really isn't a good place to put them on the dial/movement. Underneath the crystal clear sapphire is the dial or lack thereof. Around the far outside of the dial is the dark blue minute ring that has each minute printed on it in black. Each 5 minute period is marked with an Arabic numeral, where each other minute is represented by a small hash mark.

Moving more inward you have the 10 applied blue hour markers. These markers have a brushed blue appearance with the insides of the markers filled with black Super-LumiNova which glows green in low light. 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 are done in Arabic numerals, with 2 and 4 partially being covered by the chronograph minutes sub-dial. 1, 5, 7, 9 and 11 are represented by bar hour markers. 3 and most of 9 are covered up by sub-dials.



There are three centrally mounted hands on the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic being the hour, minute and chronograph seconds hand. The hour and minute hands are fence post style done in blue and are partially skeletonized with the top half covered in matching black Super-LumiNova. The chronograph seconds hand has a skeletonized tip and has the Hublot logo as the counterbalance.

At 3 o'clock there is the larger of the two sub-dials which has the 60 minute chronograph totalizer. The sub-dial has a solid black backed dial with a blue border. 30, 45 and 60 are marked with Arabic numerals and each 5 minute interval has a thick blue hash mark with the other minutes getting a smaller black hash mark. At 9 o'clock is the smaller running seconds sub-dial which is skeletonized and outlined in blue. 15, 30, 45 and 60 seconds are marked with a thick black hash mark and each other 5 second interval has a smaller black hash mark. The hands on the sub-dials are fencepost style in blue that are filled in with matching black Super-Luminova.



Finishing off the dial is the date ring which is completely exposed. The right hand portion of the chronograph minutes sub-dial at 3 o'clock has been removed to highlight the current date. While three dates are visible in this cutout, only the middle date is completely visible and is the current date. The partial dates are visible to allow you to decipher the date if the current date is covered by the minute hand. This is actually a common practice on pilot's watches.

Moving on from the dial is the polished blue ceramic round bezel. The bezel design of the Big Bang is actually where Hublot gets its "porthole" name from. The bezel is fixed to the case by 6 exposed case screws. I've heard a lot of people complain that these bezel screws are not aligned like those found on Royal Oaks and Royal Oak Offshores from Audemars Piguet. The bolts on the Royal Oak models are actually slotted in place and therefore have to line up. The screws on the Big Bang are actual screw heads, so having them not completely align is somewhat expected and gives the watch character in my opinion.



The bezel sits on top of the black composite mid-case which also forms the bulges on each side of the case. The composite not only provides a nice contrast to the deep blue of the ceramic, but it also adds a lot of strength to the watch and keeps it lightweight. The black composite is matte in finish which brings out the color of the polished blue ceramic. On each side of the case there are two exposed case screws as well. Looking at the profile of the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic you can see the case is rather flat and the short lugs turn down quickly to form to your wrist.

The right hand side of the Blue Magic features the two chronograph pushers along with a large and nicely scalloped screw down crown. The crown is topped with a depiction of the screws used on the bezel. The screwed down bezel also helps with the 100 meters of water resistance and once unscrewed allows you to manually wind the automatic movement. Pulling the crown out to position one lets you set the date and advancing the crown to the second position lets you set the time and also stops the seconds hand. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minute hand and getting the crown to catch to screw back in takes no extra care.

The chronograph pushers on the Hublot Big Bang UNICO chronographs are some of the nicest I've ever used. Both pushers require minimal force to get them to activate, but still have a great feel to them. The pusher found at 2 o'clock starts and stops the chronograph and the pusher at 4 resets the chronograph. Being a flyback chronograph, the chronograph does not need to be stopped to be restarted. If the chronograph is running, you can simply click the reset pusher and the chronograph will instantly reset and restart. I've been starting to become very accustomed to flyback chronographs recently, so I'm always a bit let down when I get a new watch in and it only has a standard chronograph. It is also very impressive that Hublot was able to develop their first in-house movement, the UNICO, which was equipped with ay flyback chronograph since it is not an easy complication to produce.



Flipping the watch over shows off the display case back featuring a flat sapphire crystal. The case back is held in place by the six screws seen on the bezel. Important information about the watch such as the limited edition number is engraved on the bezel of the case back. In the case of the Blue Magic, the production is limited to 500 pieces. Underneath the sapphire display window beats the Swiss made in-house HUB1280 UNICO automatic movement.

The movement is topped off with a skeletonized winding rotor which isn't branded. The finishing of the HUB1280 is more modern and industrial than luxurious like some other five and six figure watches. The bridges and plates have been media blasted, giving them a uniform and matte appearance. Some of the metal components also have a brushed finish. The HUB1280 has a power reserve of 72 hours and beats away at 28,800 (4Hz). On our timegrapher the movement showed an accuracy of +5 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions, which is very accurate.

The Hublot Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic has an integrated case design, meaning that the case seamlessly flows into the strap. In this case, that also means that only straps made for the Big Bang UNICO will work with the watch. The lug width of the Blue Magic is 25 mm and the watch comes on a blue rubber strap that is black on the sides and back. The strap is also has vertical ribbing running along the top of the strap and is very supple. The blue rubber strap tapers down from 25 mm at the lugs to 19 mm at the black Hublot branded deployant clasp. The clasp requires both pushers to be depressed to release the strap. The Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic also uses a very simple to use quick change system that requires a large button on the top of the lug to be pushed in to release the strap. The strap then just pushes back in to become re-attached to the case.





On The Wrist

I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to wearing the 42 mm version of the ceramic Big Bang UNICO after spending a good deal of time with the 44 mm version. In reality if I didn't have both watches in front of me, I'd have a hard time telling one from the other. The way I measure case diameter, both watches had the same measurement pretty much. The thickness of the two watches is identical as well. The 44 mm version does weigh about 10 percent more and also is 2 mm longer in lug to lug length. Looking at pictures of both watches on my wrist, you can tell the 44 mm version is slightly larger, but they look to wear in the same ballpark. I still slightly prefer larger watches and if the color I liked was in both case sizes, I'd probably go with the 44 mm version. The Blue and Orange versions are only available in the 42 mm case, which I originally thought would be deal breakers, but in reality I'd be perfectly fine with the 42 mm case if choice wasn't an option.

The Hublot Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic slots in right around my goldilocks watch dimensions. The lug to lug length is just over 52 mm and the weight is just a bit over 100 grams. I still need to try a titanium Big Bang UNICO and see which would be lighter between the ceramic and titanium. If you've read any of my reviews, you'd also know that I love high tech materials in case construction, so that the Blue Magic is made out of ceramic and composite is a huge plus for me.

The Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic wore like a dream on the wrist. The 52 mm lug to lug length nicely covered my 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area and the wide rubber strap did an excellent job of keeping the watch centered. The deployant clasp never dug into my wrist and even on extended times of wear, the watch never became or bother or caused any wrist fatigue. Sure it would have been nice for the Blue Magic to be at or below 100 grams, but it's a large and substantial watch, so 118 grams isn't too bad.



The Blue Magic served as a great wrist companion while wearing it during my everyday errands as well as out to dinner and drinks. The first day I had the watch, I wore it to a large neighborhood party and the watch really felt like a watch I'd have in my personal collection. For the most part the watch pretty much disappears on wrist, only making itself known when you want to look at the watch or get the time. My dress of mostly black t-shirts, shorts and sneakers also didn't clash with the dark blue and black aesthetic of the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic. Although I'm not a huge fan of blue, especially on watches, the nearly unreal / cartoonish look of the blue used on the Blue Magic actually made me a fan of it.

To test the legibility of a watch, I use a very simple technique where I see how easy it is to tell the time of a watch when driving at just a glance. Naturally dive watches with their large high contrast dials and large hands do the best in this category, while skeletons and complicated watches do the worst since they are not focused on legibility. Going into this test I knew the Blue Magic wouldn’t do great in the test, mostly since the watch has matching blue hour markers and hands. Also the backdrop of the movement can be hard to tell apart from the dial markings in all but great lighting. I was correct and it did take a bit of time to decipher the time at just a glance on the Blue Magic. The other color ceramic watches like the orange and white versions would be easier to tell the time on though, since they use much brighter markers and hands than the Blue Magic. My wife's favorite watch happens to be a Big Bang All Black, which is nearly impossible to tell the time on, but she just loves it. Finally there is a decent amount of luminous material on the hands and hour makers, making low light time telling rather easy.



I did notice that when I was out and about that the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic received a lot of looks. This is not surprising to me since the watch has a very un-natural blue color to it and also then comes on a blue rubber strap. The Blue Magic is by no means a wallflower of a watch and if you wear it, expect to get looks and questions about it. I showed the watch to a few of my friends along with other people that had questions and comments about it, and everyone just loved the polished blue ceramic case and skeletonized dial and movement. Most people actually knew about Hublot and I'd say the reaction to the price of the watch was mixed, which isn't too surprising since the watch is well into the luxury timepiece segment.



Value and Position in the Market

Speaking about price, the Hublot Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic retails for $25,200. For that price you're getting a full in-house flyback chronograph movement with 72 hours of power reserve which has great accuracy. You're also getting a very unique and stunning blue ceramic case from the premiere producer of ceramic cases in watchmaking. While Hublot and the Big Bang series might not be extremely old, the Big Bang has been one of the most important watches of the past quarter century. The UNICO is the newest and best version of the watch to date. Now is the time in the review that we compare the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic to other watches with similar specifications and features and see how it fairs value wise.

Up first we have the Royal Oak Offshore Ceramic from Audemars Piguet which has a 43 mm case made out of black and green ceramic. The Offshore has an in-house movement with 70 hours of power reserve and also features a flyback chronograph. Like the Big Bang, the Royal Oak Offshore also has 100 meters of water resistance. The Offshore is much more expensive than the Big Bang at $61,300 though.



Next up we have the Laureato Absolute 8Tech from Girard-Perregaux which has a 44 mm case made out of carbon and titanium composite. The Laureato is powered by an in-house automatic caliber with 46 hours of power reserve. The Laureato also has 100 meters of water resistance like the Offshore and Big Bang, it does only have a traditional chronograph though. The Laureato is slightly more expensive than the Big Bang at $26,700.

Moving on is the DEFY Skyline Chronograph 160th Anniversary Edition from Zenith which has a 42 mm case crafted out of blue ceramic. The watch is powered by the in-house El Primero movement which beats away at 5Hz and has a power reserve of 60 hours. The DEFY has the same 100 meters of water resistance as the other watches as well. The DEFY is a bit less expensive than the Big Bang at $23,800 and does come on a full ceramic bracelet.

Finally we have the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Chronographe Flyback from Blancpain which has a 43.6 mm case made out of ceramic. The Bathyscaphe is powered by an in-house movement with 50 hours of power reserve and features a flyback chronograph. Being a true dive watch, the Bathyscaphe does have a full 300 meters of water resistance. The Bathyscaphe is a little less expensive than the Big Bang at $22,400.



Looking at these four watches you can tell that the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic is priced competitively to watches from other top tier luxury watchmakers that feature a ceramic case and a chronograph in-house movement. The Zenith and Blancpain come in a bit less than the Hublot, while the Girard-Perregaux and especially the Audemars Piguet are much more expensive. The Blue Magic has very similar specs to the other four watches and really it comes down to personal preference when picking of this caliber.



Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the Hublot Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic for me? If the watch lived in a vacuum where there weren't so many different colored Big Bang UNICOs available, then yes the Blue Magic would be for me. If I had to pick, I would choose a white, black, orange or summer colors edition of the UNICO since blue really isn't my favorite watch color. With that being said, the Blue Magic might be my favorite blue watch though. The actual real life color of the watch is otherworldly and doesn't look like any blue watch I've seen before. Hublot really shows their expertise in ceramics on the Blue Magic.

Despite the color, the Big Bang UNICO is just a fantastic watch. While I'd probably still prefer the 44 mm version of the 42 mm case found on the Blue Magic, in reality they wear very similar on my 7.25 inch wrist. The slight weight savings of the smaller case is nice though and gets the weight closer to my preferred 100 grams. The 52.1 mm lug to lug length fits nicely and the substantial rubber strap keeps the watch centered on my wrist.



The first generation of the UNICO movement was the first movement made by Hublot in-house. The brand is now on their second generation of the UNICO and the movement still amazes me. Every UNICO I've tested has been extremely accurate and features maybe the best chronograph action I've felt in recent memory. Having a flyback chronograph added to the UNICO right off the bat was a nice move by Hublot as well.

Would I then recommend the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic to somebody looking for a luxury sports chronograph? Once again, to fully recommend the Blue Magic, the person would have to be a big fan of blue watches. They would also have to be OK with wearing a watch that is very loud on the wrist, which I personally love. The Blue Magic would also not lend itself well to an everyday watch, which I'd imagine not many people looking at the Blue Magic would use it as. The Blue Magic lends itself best to being a weekend or vacation watch. I guess if you have a very casual lifestyle, like I do, the Blue Magic could be your daily.

For the same price as the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic there are many options from other established high end watch manufactures, so it really comes down to personal taste when shopping for a watch of this magnitude. I've been very familiar with Hublot since the original launch of the Big Bang and have always held the brand in the same regard as say Audemars Piguet. Ever since the brand was acquired by LVMH they have refined their watches and movements even more and keep putting out top tier timepieces. I know there is a lot of noise around Hublot, but it's mostly from those who look at older models with off the shelf movements and the prices they were being sold back then. Nowadays those older Hublots are probably the best value pre-owned watches on the market and the newest watches can go toe to toe with any sports watch in terms of case materials and movement quality.



I'd really like to thank Hublot for sending us this Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic to review. This is now the second Big Bang UNICO we've had in for review and both pieces have exceeded my expectations. In the near future I'd really like to get in one of their Big Bang MECA-10 models to review. I've always been a sucker for long power reserves and I'd love to see how the MECA-10 movement compares to the UNICO looks wise. The Aspen limited edition really sings to me, hopefully we can get one in sooner than later.

For more information about the Big Bang UNICO Blue Magic please visit : Hublot



Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 441.ES.5119.RX

Retail Price: $25,200

Case Size: 42 mm

Lug to Lug: 52.1 mm

Thickness: 14.7 mm

Weight: 118 grams

Case Material: Blue Ceramic and Black Composite

Bezel: Blue Ceramic

Strap: Blue Rubber Strap with Deployant Clasp

Movement: Swiss Made In-House HUB1280 UNICO Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date and Flyback Chronograph

Power Reserve: 72 Hours

Water Resistance: 100 Meters