Ending The Year On A Bold Note With The Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Carbon SR_A And The Zenith Defy Extreme Jungle

Imagine yourself sitting or standing in a concert hall. The band or orchestra performs what clearly is the last song of the night. After the final note, though, the crowd goes wild and keeps clapping, hoping the concert won’t end just yet. Finally, the performers decide to play one more song — the encore. Sometimes, that encore is premeditated, but other times, the musicians have to improvise a lot to please the overexcited crowd. The two watches we’ll look at today feel a bit like their brands’ encores for 2024. You decide whether the Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Carbon SR_A or the Zenith Defy Extreme Jungle is either the planned or improvised kind of encore.

When you look at these two fireworks pieces, you know the designers got carte blanche when they started drawing. Of course, both watches are based on existing models, and they’re even part of two series. But other than that, nothing stood in the designers’ way of making them theirs. Let’s listen and find out what these encores sound like.

The Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Carbon SR_A

This is the third time that Hublot has collaborated with designer Samuel Ross — SR_A (Samuel Ross Access) is the name of his atelier. On his first Big Bang Tourbillon from 2020, Ross combined the 44mm titanium honeycomb case with a bright orange rubber bumper. Last year, he returned with an all-titanium case construction and a bright green strap. This year, he stays close to Hublot’s “art of fusion” concept with a construction that combines titanium and carbon.

Both the bezel and the skeletonized honeycomb part of the case are made of titanium. The octagonal bezel has a satin-brushed finish on the top and a shiny micro-blasted finish on the side. Along the edges of the case, there’s a frosted gray carbon bumper, which probably makes this the lightest version of the Big Bang that Ross has designed. The dial — or what’s left of it — is made of sapphire so you get a good look at the HUB6035’s micro-rotor at 12 and the tourbillon at 6 o’clock.

The color theme for the Big Bang Tourbillon Carbon SR_A is blue, as you can see on the minute hand, hour markers, the crown, and, of course, the rubber strap.

The Zenith Defy Extreme Jungle

After the Desert and Glacier, the Zenith Defy Extreme Jungle is the final chapter in the brand’s series of watches for extreme environments. All three watches have a neat trick up their sleeve — or, rather, under their bezel and around the pushers. The Glacier version came with a white dodecagonal ring and pusher guards made of chalcedony stone. The Desert version had a falcon’s eye gemstone ring and guards. Finally, the new Jungle version comes with a ring and guards made of tiger’s eye stone.

Apart from the use of the different stones, both the Desert and Glacier still looked quite modest. That’s relative, of course, when talking about the 45mm Zenith Defy Extreme, especially with its 15.4mm thickness. But take one look at the new Jungle version, and you’ll immediately know what I mean. First of all, the tiger’s eye stone stands out much more than the previous two. Moreover, in combination with the tiger-painted rings on the sub-dials, the green-tinted sapphire dial, and the bright green rubber strap, Zenith sure didn’t take the Jungle theme lightly here.

In addition, the mainplate and rotor of the automatic El Primero 9004 movement are khaki green. Of course, this caliber also features two regulating organs and escapements. One beats at 36,000vph for accurate timekeeping and the other at 360,000vph for the 1/100th-of-a-second chronograph function. Indeed, that means the central chronograph hand sweeps around the dial in just one second.

Which one would you clap harder for?

So, which encore would you clap harder for at the end of the evening? My favorite here is the Zenith Defy Extreme Jungle. Of course, the Big Bang’s construction is very impressive with the skeletonized case, screws, and that micro-rotor tourbillon movement. However, it’s not my favorite of the three Samuel Ross editions. The first one with the orange bumper still looks the best to me. There’s simply too little contrast between the new version’s carbon and titanium parts to make a substantial visual impact.

The Zenith Defy Extreme Jungle, on the other hand, is all about contrast and visual impact. For many, the combination of the tiger’s eye stone, the green elements, and tiger-painted registers might be a bit much. But that’s what watches with names like “Extreme” and “Big Bang” are all about, right? To me, it seems Zenith is going out with a (big) bang with this final Jungle version of the Defy Extreme.

It’s almost like Hublot played an encore people weren’t quite able to recognize. It sounded nice and all, but it simply wasn’t what the audience was hoping for. In contrast, Zenith played an all-time favorite and did it well. But, just as with music, this is based on personal taste and preferences, of course.

Final words

If you’re having a particularly difficult time deciding between these two bangers, their prices might help you. The Zenith Defy Extreme Jungle costs €28,000 and comes with a titanium bracelet and two additional straps. The Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Carbon SR_A costs quite a bit more at €149,000. Both are limited editions of only 50 pieces.

Let me know in the comments below which one you’d choose.