Hublot Big Bang King

The Big Bang is one of the most important collections in the Hublot catalog. The Swiss luxury watch manufacturer offers this watch in many variants, thus appealing to a wide range of customers.

Hublot designed the Big Bang King with divers and water sports enthusiasts in mind. It has all the features of a proper diving watch, including water resistance to 300 m (30 bar, 984 ft) and a unidirectional bezel with a minute scale. The zero marker, hands, and indices all have a generous coating of SuperLuminova. This makes the watch easy to read underwater and in poor lighting conditions.

Unlike most Big Bang models, the King does without a chronograph function. The HUB1400 caliber powers its three hands and date display. This movement is based on the ETA 2892-2.

Another defining feature of the Big Bang King is its size. Every case is either 44 or 48 mm in diameter. Their thickness is equally impressive, coming in at 15 and 17 mm, respectively.

Today, you can only find the Big Bang King as a pre-owned watch or as "new old stock" (NOS) since the manufacturer retired this model several years ago.

Prices for the Big Bang King largely depend on the case material. On the lower end of the price range, you'll find the Big Bang King with a ceramic case. Regardless of size, this model costs about 6,400 USD. If you prefer gold watches, you should be prepared to spend around 28,000 USD. The addition of diamonds causes prices to climb to over 50,000 USD. Finally, King models in the less conventional material palladium change hands for roughly 14,500 USD.

All Black models with black ceramic cases mark the entry point into this series. Hublot pairs their black dials with white, red, green, or blue hands and indices. Regardless of the size and color, plan to spend about 6,400 USD on a pre-owned All Black Big Bang King in good condition.

The Big Bang King with a rose gold case is a more elegant option; this is especially true of variants with a white or brown dial on a matching rubber strap. Be sure to have around 24,500 USD on hand for one of these timepieces. The same watch with a black dial and ceramic bezel is slightly less expensive at about 17,000 USD.

If you're interested in a gold Big Bang King with diamonds, you should be prepared to invest more than 50,000 USD. In addition to embellishing the case and bezel, these black and white gems form the minute scale, allowing dive times to be set and read.

The Big Bang King in palladium is no less exotic. Palladium is one of the platinum group metals and lends this case its exceptional strength. What's more, it doesn't tarnish and thus maintains its silvery shine over time. Prices for pre-owned watches in good condition are around 13,500 USD.

The Big Bang King shares much of its design DNA with the standard Big Bang. One of the most important similarities is the use of six prominent bezel screws. These screws are as integral to the Big Bang as the Cyclops lens is to the Rolex Submariner. The slots in the screws are shaped so that the head resembles an "H" for Hublot.

The porthole look, which is a hallmark of the brand and the source of its name, also characterizes the Big Bang King. "Hublot" means "porthole" in French.

Carlo Crocco, an Italian watch designer, founded Hublot in 1980. Crocco is also responsible for the company's fusion concept. By combining a gold case with a natural rubber strap, he broke new ground in the watch scene.

In 2004, Luxembourgian-Swiss businessman Jean-Claude Biver left his role as CEO of Omega to take the same position at Hublot. Within a year, the brand introduced the Big Bang collection and, thus, begin a successful story that continues to this day.

The luxury goods conglomerate Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH) bought out Crocco's Hublot shares in 2008. Hublot's current CEO, Ricardo Guadelupe, has held his post since 2012.