Hands-On With The Three New Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 42mm Watches
Some watches mimic an early morning sky in April; these three new Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 42mm watches have a playful backstory involving toys. When he was young, former Hublot CEO Jean-Claude Biver used to build stuff with Meccano, a toy construction system invented in 1898 by Englishman Frank Hornby. I happen to be a Lego man, but I know people who started playing with Meccano in their youth and continued building all kinds of complex constructions when they became adults. To construct a watch movement out of Meccano was a dream Biver had for ages. When he became Hublot’s boss, his dream came true in 2016 when the first edition of the Meca-10 debuted. The three new iterations of the “toy watch” are smaller and subtler, and they should get a bigger audience to come and play. And that includes very adult/serious watch fans.
A whole 127 years after its invention, Meccano still wants to do what it wanted to do right from the very start — inspire the builders of tomorrow! When we consider Jean-Claude Biver’s story, Meccano didn’t inspire people to construct just planes, cars, bridges, and self-invented constructions but also watch movements. The actual movements in the first and second generations of Meca-10 watches aren’t made of miniaturized Meccano, but they reveal visual similarities. But before we look into that, I need to mention a somewhat philosophical and conceptual connection between the toy and the watch.
The three new Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 42mm watches can change how you view the brand
In 2004, when Jean-Claude Biver was 56, he had already made a name for himself at Omega and Blancpain. That year, he stepped in as CEO of Hublot, the company founded by Carlo Crocco. In 1980, Crocco shocked the world of watches by putting a rubber strap on a gold watch. After the initial upset and success that followed, the brand, according to Biver, fell asleep. But when a brand is asleep, it can’t do anything wrong, and that’s one of the reasons Biver agreed to come on board. He didn’t have to correct anything; he could just have fun with watches he thought had great potential.
Rubber was the shocking material that launched Hublot, and it remained the distinctive factor in 2004. But Biver saw beyond rubber. He saw fusion, and that was what Hublot should be all about. According to Biver, “Fusion is when you take two elements that can never come together, and you fuse them.” Apparently, he also said that this kind of fusion would create a big bang, which led to the name of the brand’s most famous collection, but we’ll save the fact-checking of this anecdote for a later time.
When we look at the brand’s current catalog, it’s clear that the “art of fusion” defines Hublot and is quite loud in every sense. Different kinds of materials in various colors are matched, and opposing worlds like art and football are brought together in the Hublot watch universe. There are watches made in collaboration with artists, for referees, and what have you. The Meca-10 fuses toys with watchmaking. The three new Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 watches can change how you view the brand. Yes, I’m looking at you, watch fans.
The Big Bang Meca-10 takes fusion to the next level
Fusion can involve mixing gold with rubber or creating Magic Gold, an oxidation- and scratch-resistant version of 18K gold realized by “magically” mixing ceramics with a precious alloy in the Nyon manufacture. The fusion concept also combines brash and bold styling with serious watchmaking in the form of in-house movements or complications. The three new Big Bang Meca-10 watches do a lot of fusing. The three fundamental materials are King Gold, titanium, and Frosted Carbon, but you might already know that because it was in my introduction article about the three watches.
The trio of redefined and evolved Meca-10 watches
When I got the chance to try on all three new 42mm × 13.9mm Meca-10 watches, I jumped on it. Daan joined me in inspecting them, trying them on, and taking pictures. We made the right choice because the smaller re-engineered Big Bang Meca-10 still has the same silhouette as the 45mm original that debuted in 2016, but now it fits a normal-sized human being. So which Meca-10 fits best? Let’s make this a Top 3, counting down to my favorite one.
The Big Bang Meca-10 King Gold ref. 444.OX.1180.RX (€44,500 / US$42,700) sits in third place. Apart from micro-blasted 18K King Gold with a warm and deep pink hue, the watch case features contrasting black ceramic parts and a signature black rubber strap. The dial side also shows a mix of rose gold tones and deep black contrasts. The lack of dial offers a great view of the in-house caliber HUB1205, which forms the heart of the new 42mm Big Bang Meca-10 family. All three watches might use the same caliber, but the movement looks different in each one. The 3Hz hand-winding movement consisting of 264 components received a galvanic treatment, resulting in a color that perfectly matches the pink gold hues of the case.
The Meccano-like parts of the caliber HUB1205
Since the open-worked movements with a balance wheel at 7 o’clock differ in finishing but are essentially the same, let’s first explore the Meccano-inspired parts of them. The first Meccano-related aspect is how the watch displays the power reserve the movement holds — a whole 10 days. A prominent movement part is the horizontal rack-and-pinion construction at 12. And there’s more about that construction. The mechanism the French call the crémaillère is a rare feat in mechanical movements. The 10-day power reserve is digitally displayed at 3 o’clock by a differential display consisting of two superimposed disks that rotate in opposite directions. The disks are connected by a spiral spring that coils in the middle, and the last two days of power reserve are highlighted in bright red.
The back of the watch shows more Meccano-like watchmaking — for instance, the two skeletonized barrels. But most “Meccano” of all, are the three linear bridges that immediately make one think of the construction toy. The three characteristic bridges, galvanized in either a rose gold tone, metallic gray, or black, attach to the mainplate and feature satin-brushed surfaces and hand-polished bevels. The HUB1205 is a sized-down evolution of the HUB1201. It features a hacking mechanism for precise time setting and a regulating organ with a lubricant-free and paramagnetic silicon escape wheel. In other words, it’s an original-looking micromachine worthy of attention from watch fans with a taste for movements.
Silver goes to the titanium and gold to the Forged Carbon Meca-10
It was always going to be a “battle” between the titanium and the Frosted Carbon versions. It was close, yes, but not as close as I thought it would be before stepping into the Amsterdam Hublot boutique. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the titanium ref. 444.NX.1170.RX (€23,900 / US$23,000) plain, but it is the least special of the three. Despite that, it beats the King Gold version because I think there’s a stronger link between Meccano and the technical, lightweight titanium used in all kinds of high-tech machines and tools. I also like that Hublot used quasi-industrial grayish tones to create a watch that looks instrumental and utilitarian. Speaking of utilitarianism, all three watches feature Hublot’s One Click system, allowing easy strap swapping.
My favorite is the most stealthy and lightweight version of the three, the Frosted Carbon ref. 444.QN.1170.NR (€27,400 / US$23,500) on its Velcro strap. The dominant black theme of Frosted Carbon is the most distinct. This material reminds me of either forged carbon or carbon with a stealthy camouflage pattern. Because of the production process, this type of carbon makes for a unique look, unlike, for instance, a 3K carbon with its typical, repetitive weave.
The watch with its utilitarian fabric strap is easy to put on, lightweight, and stealthy, but it doesn’t go unnoticed. The angular Big Bang design and modular concept showing visible screws serve as the foundation of the Meca-10 models and prevent the black one from being all too stealthy. The watch, despite its lack of weight, feels solid because of the construction and smooth because of the finishing. The Meccano-style movement operates smoothly and looks great as well.
Final thoughts on the 42mm Big Bang Meca-10 watches
Shrinking the case of the Big Bang Meca-10 from 45mm × 15.8mm to 42mm × 13.9mm doesn’t just make it easier to wear and suitable for more wrists. With a smaller yet still original and powerful in-house movement, the watch also signals serious sophistication. The Big Bang is Hublot’s flagship model that debuted in 2005. It has often been accused of being an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore rip-off. But is it still after 20 years of production and steady evolution? I don’t see it that way. For instance, the case construction of both watches is completely different. Do the Big Bang and the Royal Oak Offshore have things in common? For sure. Both are bold and brash and probably also speak to an overlapping audience.
With the launch of the three Big Bang Meca-10 watches in their shrunken 42mm cases, Hublot might have a watch in its collection that speaks to an audience that didn’t take the brand seriously before. For some watch enthusiasts, including Fratello readers, dismissing Hublot is something of a reflex. With a more relaxed and open-minded approach, things could be very different. I’m not saying everybody should embrace Hublot’s often very outspoken creations because the brand’s design language is not supposed to be vanilla. But the three “flavors” the Big Bang Meca-10 comes in could be to your taste. Just start with a little “bite.”
