The Gentleman Magazine Issue 18 | December 2019 | Page 10

AFTER SAPPHIRE COMES A BRAND-NEW
TRANSPARENT MATERIAL TO GO EMERALD GREEN
The colourful achievement of green SAXEM for the Big Bang
MP-11
Having made a huge investment in the industrialisation of
sapphire—the most difficult material to produce—in several
colours (transparent, black, yellow, blue and red), to have
the quantity necessary to create its models, and given the
impossibility of offering an emerald green in this material,
Hublot has now explored new avenues. Today, the brand is able
to take a new approach to the ultra-technical and contemporary
design of the MP-11 model by shaping its case in an innovative
material never before used in watchmaking. Endowed with a
deep green that can compete with the finest emeralds, SAXEM
combines peerless resistance with a brilliance that comes close
to that of a diamond. Within this fully transparent case beats a
manual-winding manufacture calibre with an exceptional 14-
day power reserve ensured by seven barrels that can be seen
from the dial side.
ith this new Big Bang MP-11, Hublot once more asserts its
regal mastery of innovation, at both a technical level and in
terms of aesthetics. By offering those that seek accomplishment
a state-of-the-art material used in very high-tech applications,
particularly in satellites, and by combining it with a
manufacture movement with levels of performance that will go
down in history, we are changing the face of our Art of Fusion.
- Ricardo Guadalupe CEO Hublot
Hublot reaffirms its place as a leader of innovation by making
its MP-11—after 3D carbon and transparent sapphire—in a
high-tech material that has never been used for a watchcase.
Its name is SAXEM, as in Sapphire Aluminium oXide and rare
Earth Mineral. In order to obtain this unparalleled shade of
green, transparency and radiance, the Hublot manufacture –
an expert in the concept of fusion – mixed aluminium oxide,
the basic component of sapphire, with rare-earth elements
like thulium and holmium as well as chromium. The resulting
material is both harder than emerald (which is too soft to be
machined) and endowed with a brilliance that is greater than
that of sapphire.
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It has other advantages too: the absence of tension within the
matter ensures greater stability in terms of shaping, whereas
the cubic crystalline structure guarantees the same shade and
intensity of colour, regardless of the angle from which you look
at the case.
The entirely polished green SAXEM thus provides a
characterful contrast to the bezel’s six H-shaped polished and
microblasted black titanium screws, as well as to the black
crown that combines titanium with rubber inserts.
High-performance mechanics
With an innovative chassis and an exceptional motor: there is
a manual-winding skeleton manufacture calibre, fitted with
an outstanding two-week power reserve, beating in the heart
of this Big Bang MP-11. Hublot has accomplished this feat
thanks to original and spectacular movement architecture that
integrates seven barrels connected in series, all with a very
reasonable thickness of 10.92 mm. As an additional challenge,
to enable the transmission of energy between the horizontal
axis of the barrels and the vertical train steering the hours and
minutes display, the creators used a system that is very rare
in watchmaking: a 90-degree intermediate wheel by way of
an “endless screw”-type helical gear wheel. To ensure a good
aesthetic balance with this helical gear visible at 10 o’clock, the
anthracite ruthenium balance has been moved to the dial side
in a position symmetrical to 2 o’clock.
, Securing the Internet of Things”