BY MICHAEL THOMPSON
Backstory
REAR VIEWS OF NOTE
Hublot
SPIRIT OF BIG BANG
MECA-10
ORIGINALLY HOUSED WITHIN A ROUND
CASE, Hublot’s Meca-10 delighted observers
when it debuted in 2016 with a caliber
inspired by toy Meccano building blocks
(essentially metallic Legos).
The HUB1201 movement inside that
original Meca-10 offered a superior ten-day
power reserve displayed by a novel rack-
driven display, unusual linear bridges and
well-considered open-work architecture that
transported many collectors back to their
original childhood obsession with
mechanical devices.
This year Hublot has reworked its Meca-10
and combined it with the barrel-shaped case
found in the Hublot Spirit of Big Bang 45mm
collection.
Like the original movement, the new
HUB1233 forgoes a baseplate, replacing it
with three darkened bridges that directly
reference the Meccano toy building
components, complete with their holes.
Here, you’ll see both polished screws and
synthetic rubies within many of them.
Those rubies mark the two large parallel
barrels that power the watch’s
exceptional power reserve. They also
denote the gear train and even the
escapement, with its somewhat
visible silicon escape wheel and
pallet. The back nicely contrasts
polished or satin-finished metallic
surfaces with blackened finishing.
The Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Meca-
10 is skeletonized in a clean,
contemporary style that invites the
eye to take a look around and
admire its angles, links and
connections. The depth and
architecture of the
movement, as seen from
both sides, seems to portray a far more
complex machine than its relatively
un-complicated time and power reserve
displays would suggest. The effect is both
mesmerizing and rewarding as its feeds
many a collector’s long-held desire to view
mechanical machinery.
Hublot just debuted this new Spirit of Big
Bang Meca-10 at the premiere LVMH Watch
Week in three versions – titanium, black
ceramic and the Hublot King Gold alloy.
98 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | WINTER 2020
THE ESSENTIALS
CASE
Satin-finished and polished 45mm by 14.5mm 18-karat
King Gold, an alloy of platinum and gold. Water
resistance to fifty meters.
MOVEMENT
Caliber HUB1233
Manufacture manual-winding skeleton with beaded, satin
and polished finishes. Ten-day power reserve and rack-
driven indicator (on front), 228 components, 26 jewels,
21,600 bph frequency.
PRICE
$44,100 (in King Gold, pictured).
Also available in titanium ($23,100)
and black ceramic ($27,300)