Wednesday, February 10, 2016

HUBLOT – BIG BANG Unico SAPPHIRE Edition


















HUBLOTBIG BANG Unico SAPPHIRE Chronograph Limited Edition NEW

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BIG BANG UNICO SAPPHIRE
In complete transparency

Pre-Baselworld 2016

Once again, Hublot is adding its innovation and expertise with materials to the history of watchmaking firsts. By transforming the ‘savoir-faire,’ Hublot has developed the manufacturing of unique and very hard materials, such as Magic Gold, the world’s only scratch-resistant gold. Now in 2016, Hublot has created 500 Big Bang Unico Sapphire models cut straight from sapphire, without losing sapphire’s unique and rare character.


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“Through the Art of Fusion, Hublot reveals all. A transparent case that reveals the soul of the watch — the Unico movement – and an absolute transparency extending to the strap, which has become invisible. Beyond the symbolism and the play on words, the Big Bang is laying itself bare. It has nothing to hide and everything to show.” 
Ricardo Guadalupe, CEO of Hublot

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Sapphire — an extremely difficult material to machine — has until now been reserved for one-of-a-kind pieces or very private collections. After its ambitious MP05 “LaFerrari” Sapphire project, Hublot is capitalising on the challenge that it has just met and asserting its expertise in sapphire cutting by interpreting it in a series of 500 pieces. This is a first. Sapphire had never previously been cut “on such a large scale”.

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It is a collection of absolute transparency that consecrates the acclaimed architecture of the Big Bang model and the performances of the brand’s Unico movement.

The case middle, bezel and back of the Big Bang Unico Sapphire are cut from blocks of sapphire, a material which is almost as hard and scratch-resistant as diamond (9 on the Mohs scale as opposed to 10 for diamond). Hublot has called on the expertise of a Swiss specialist as part of an exclusive partnership to develop the unique material.

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 Only a few pieces forming the spine of the watch are made from titanium: the screws, the crown, which is over-molded with silicon, and the deployant buckle. Its skeleton dial, made from transparent resin, reveals all the gears of the proprietary Unico HUB1242 movement and its finishes.

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Complementing its ethereal silhouette, its strap – transparent – is invisible so that the skin can be seen through it. Available as a 500-piece limited edition, the Big Bang Unico Sapphire is water-resistant to 50 metres.

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A minimalist style, a very light timepiece, an inevitable new trend. Hublot, the art of mechanical watchmaking laid completely bare.

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Technical specifications

References 411.JX.4802.RT  - Limited edition of 500 pieces

Case
Diameter: 45 mm,
Made from polished sapphire crystal
Bezel
Polished sapphire crystal
6 H-shaped Titanium screws, countersunk, polished & locked
Crystal
Sapphire with interior/exterior anti-reflective coating and Hublot logo
Bezel Lugs:   Polished transparent composite resin
Lateral inserts: Black composite      
Crown    
Transparent silicone and satin-finished Titanium    
Push-pieces:  Satin-finished Titanium 
Case-back
Polished sapphire crystal
Water resistance: 5 ATM, i.e. approx. 50 metres  
Dial
Polished transparent composite resin skeleton dial
    Counter ring at 9 o'clock (small second)     
    Counter ring at 3 o'clock (chronograph minute)     
Hands    
White Luminescent Superluminova™      

Movement
 HUB  1242  UNICO  movement  with  black  PVD  treatment,
Developed  and manufactured in-house by Hublot Automatic flyback chronograph with column     
 wheel and double clutch visible on the dial side  
Date: Window at 3 o'clock       
Power reserve: Approximately 72 hours    
Strap material
Transparent structured lined strap
Interchangeable system.
Clasp: Titanium deployant buckle

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HUBLOT SASwitzerland
T +41 (0)22 990 90 00F +41(0)22 990 90 29
International Press Contact: Anaïs Tréand a.treand@hublot.ch
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PANERAI – Radiomir 1940 & Luminor 1950 47mm Special Edition


OFFICINE PANERAI Radiomir 1940 3 Days Acciaio 47mm & Luminor 1950 3 Days Acciaio 47mm Special Edition NEW

Officine Panerai introduces two special edition timepieces; both feature a distinctive brown dial that tells a fascinating story of the brand which revolutionised the legibility of wristwatches in the dark and underwater.

Radiomir and Luminor, which today identify the cases, originally referred to the two luminous materials created to achieve the legendary visibility at night or underwater which have always been a feature of the dials of Panerai watches. It began with the invention of Radiomir: this was a powder based on radium, patented by Guido Panerai in 1916, to make luminous gun sights and other optical devices exceptionally visible in the dark.

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It was Radiomir which was used on the dial of the first ever Panerai watch in 1936, and for several years this remarkable luminous substance was one of the closely guarded military secrets which enabled the commandos of the Royal Italian Navy to carry out their extraordinary missions in the depths of the sea at night, equipped with instruments specially created by the Florentine watchmaker.

In the 1940s people were concerned about the radioactivity of radium powder and therefore in 1949 Panerai patented Luminor, a new luminous substance based on tritium, some 20 times less radioactive. The replacement happened gradually, because some of Orologeria Panerai’s clients preferred the unrivalled visibility of Radiomir even after the invention of Luminor, and this explains why some watches were produced using this substance even in the 1950s. At a distance of several decades, it is the colour of the dial which tells this story about Panerai’s exceptional luminosity. The effect of the radium-based powder – and also to a lesser extent that based on tritium – has been to bring about a change in the colour of the dials of some vintage watches, transforming the original black into a characteristic brown, which helps to make each of these models unique and different from all the others.

Two new Special Editions, made in 1,000 examples each, draw inspiration from this detail to appeal to lovers of the history of watchmaking: the Radiomir 1940 3 Days(PAM00662) and the Luminor 1950 3 Days(PAM00663).

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Among the clients of Panerai who asked for a Radiomir watch, after the Luminor patent application, was the Egyptian Navy, which for the first time in 1954 turned to the Florentine watchmaker for the supply of a special series of diver’s watches designed for frogmen. It was this request which gave rise to one of the most fascinating watches in the history of Officine Panerai, known to collectors by the reference 6154 and the name “Egiziano Piccolo”– to distinguish it from its famous successor, the Egiziano of 1956 – and today it is presented again as a Special Edition: the new Radiomir 1940 3 Days.

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Originally no more than 30 or 40 examples of the Egiziano Piccolo were produced, making it one of the most sought after vintage Panerai watches, and the new Radiomir 1940 3 Days is a faithful re-creation of it, updated to meet the current standards of high quality sports watchmaking. It uses the Radiomir 1940 case in the historic size of 47 mm in diameter, today made of AISI 316L stainless steel with a polished finish. The lugs are formed from the block of the case itself. The winding crown is cylindrical and the profile of the watch is particularly elegant with the sharp edge of the case band.

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The other Special Edition created by Officine Panerai is the new Luminor 1950 3 Days. In this model, the same brown dial is fitted in a Luminor 1950 case, immediately recognisable by the bridge-shaped device with its locking lever which exercises a light pressure on the winding crown to protect it from accidental shocks and to help ensure the watch’s water-resistance. This device had certainly been invented and used even earlier, perhaps even before the end of the 1940s, but the patent application was only lodged as late as 1955, probably delayed because of the military secrecy imposed by the Italian Navy.

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The new Luminor 1950 3 Days has the Luminor 1950 case of AISI 316L stainless steel, in its first historic version: the one with a diameter of 47 mm, its cusped shape reminiscent of the cases of the first Radiomir watches.

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The distinctive, original element of both these new models is the brown dial, its colour inspired by that of the vintage watches which have undergone the discolouring effect caused by the luminous material. The substance used today to achieve exceptional night visibility, typical of all Panerai watches, is Grade A Super-LumiNova®, applied to the incisions made in the dial corresponding to the classic,  large markers which indicate the hours. To protect the dial, the crystal is made not of sapphire glass but of lightly cambered Plexiglas®, as in the vintage examples where the crystal was made of polymethylacrylate. The hands too reproduce those of the period Panerai watches and the OP reference is engraved between the lugs, exactly as it was in the historic models.

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Through the sapphire porthole on the back of the new Special Editions, the hand-wound P.3000 calibre, entirely made in the Panerai Manufacture in Neuchâtel, can be admired. Accurate, durable and reliable as befits a Panerai movement, the P.3000 has two spring barrels which enable it to accumulate a power reserve of three days and it is here presented for the first time with a new appearance.

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The structure of the movement is now protected by four brush-finished bridges, including the one with twin supports which in a particularly stable manner secures the balance oscillating at a frequency of 3 Hz (21,600 vibrations per hour). The P.3000 calibre also has the useful device which enables the hour hand to be swiftly and accurately adjusted forward or backward, without interfering with the running of the minute hand.

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Both models are supplied with a Ponte Vecchio strap in brown leather with visible ecru sewing, the heat engraved OP logo and a tongue buckle in polished steel personalised Panerai. The elegant wood box in which the two new Special Editions are supplied also contains a spare Plexiglas® crystal. The watch is water-resistant to 10 bar (equivalent of a depth of about 100 metres).

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RADIOMIR 1940 3 DAYS ACCIAIO – 47mm (PAM00662)

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    Movement: 
Hand-wound mechanical, P.3000 calibre,
executed entirely by Panerai, 16½ lignes, 5.3mm thick,
21 jewels, Glucydur® balance, 21,600 alternations/hour.
Incabloc® anti-shock device.
Power reserve 3 days, two barrels.
164 components.
    Functions: 
Hours, minutes
    Case: 
47 mm, AISI 316L polished steel
Back: See - through sapphire crystal
Bezel: Polished stee. 
Crystal: Plexiglas®.
    Dial: 
Brown with luminous Arabic numerals and hour markers
    Power Reserve: 72H
    Water-Resistance:10 bar (~100 metres)
  Strap:
Calf Ponte Vecchio Dark Brown, beige, STD, 26/22,
Luminor - Radiomir 1940 47-48mm.
 Buckle:
Trapezoidal polished steel, 22mm, Luminor 44-47mm,
Radiomir 45-47-48mm and Radiomir 1940 47mm.

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LUMINOR 1950 3 DAYS ACCIAIO – 47mm (PAM00663)

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    Movement: 
Hand-wound mechanical, P.3000 calibre,
executed entirely by Panerai, 16½ lignes, 5.3mm thick,
21 jewels, Glucydur® balance, 21,600 alternations/hour.
Incabloc® anti-shock device.
Power reserve 3 days, two barrels.
164 components.
    Functions: 
Hours, minutes
    Case: 
47 mm, AISI 316L polished steel
Back: See - through sapphire crystal
Bezel: Polished stee.
Device protecting the crown: (protected as a trademark) Brushed steel.
Crystal: Plexiglas®.
    Dial: 
Brown with luminous Arabic numerals and hour markers
    Power Reserve: 72H
    Water-Resistance:10 bar (~100 metres)
  Strap:
Calf Ponte Vecchio Dark Brown, beige, STD, 26/22,
Luminor - Radiomir 1940 47-48mm.
 Buckle:
Trapezoidal polished steel, 22mm, Luminor 44-47mm,
Radiomir 45-47-48mm and Radiomir 1940 47mm.


* The trademark Velcro® and Coramid® are notproperty of Officine Panerai
*Officine Panerai is not the owner of the Glucydur® and KIF Parechoc® trademarks.

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