Last year, Hublot announced its partnership with Chelsea Football Club from the English Premier League. Along with that announcement, they also unveiled the Hublot Classic Fusion Chronograph Chelsea FC watch, which was the first watch made in collaboration with Chelsea as well as the official watch of the club. Now, a year later, Hublot and Chelsea have teamed up again for another watch, and here you go, the Hublot Big Bang Chelsea FC.
Football (or soccer, if you’re American) is among the world's most popular and watched sports. Consequently, football has become an important marketing device for Hublot. Besides Chelsea, Hublot also offers strong ties with two other major European clubs – Juventus of Italy and Benfica of Portugal. Hublot was also the official timekeeper of the 2021 World Cup and will also be the official timekeeper of the 2021 World Cup, that will take place next year in Russia.
The new Hublot Big Bang Chelsea FC is dependant on the popular 44mm Big Bang and features a generous splash of blue, the state color of Chelsea Football Club. It features a 44mm satin-finished stainless steel case and a bright blue bezel made out of carbon fiber and Texalium. The bezel is held in place by Hublot's distinct H-shaped screws, that are made out of polished titanium. The crowns and chronograph pushers are stainless steel and feature black rubber inserts. Lastly, the watch is water resistant to 100m and has a rubber-lined blue alligator strap with white stitching.
Like the bezel, the dial is a bright sunray blue but is satin-finished. At 3 o'clock you have the 30-minute counter for the chronograph, and at 12 o'clock you will find the 12-hour counter for the chronograph. The subsidiary seconds dial reaches 9 o'clock and it features the engraving “SW6” – the postal code where Chelsea's stadium, Stamford Bridge, is located.
Another nod to the club may be the Chelsea lion in gold at 12 o'clock. The applied hour markers are rhodium-plated and full of white luminescent material. Likewise, the rhodium-plated hour and minute hands will also be filled with white luminescent material to assist legibility in dimly-lit environments. Completing the dial is really a date window at 4:30.
Ball’s Temperature Measurement technology (TMT) describes a proprietary module included to, we think, the ETA 2892 automatic movement for this particular watch, now known as the BALL RR1601-C. Ball Watch Titanium explains that its system that uses a “spiral bimetallic thermometer” is much more accurate than thermometers on strings which came before it, also claims to be able to measure the environment’s temperature from –31°F to 113°F (–35°C to 45°C), with a precision of 97%, or even a “precision variety of inside +10°F.” Ball notes the engineering challenge of keeping the motion 5.1mm thick using the accession of this module’s temperature-measuring coil. Regrettably, it doesn’t seem like this part of the movement is viewable through the display caseback, though it is reasonable that you'd need it nearer to the dial and away within the wrist.We have observed this tech (and style, for example, date window at 1 o’clock), for instance, from the Ball Trainmaster Kelvin watch (reviewed here by Patrick Kansa). Temperature always looked like a cool thing to be able to reference from one’s wrist in my experience personally, but I have wondered how it may be impacted by body heat. It should a minimum of be enjoyable to see both your hands move as you go inside and out, as well as to point to your wrist as you complain about the weather.aBlogtoWatch was enthused concerning the Ball for BMW line from in early stages, and it is wonderful to see a well-executed design continuity develop across the range. I consider it to be capable of evoking a sleek, contemporary automotive vibe. There are a chronograph, a power book, a GMT, plus a couple of fundamental three-hand-plus-date watches, all limited editions and all sorts of COSC chronometer-certified, just like this one.
The movement within is the caliber HUB4100, which is actually based on an ETA 2894 or Sellita equivalent and fitted having a chronograph module. Obviously, an in-house Hublot Unico movement would have been preferred and would have made the timepiece more desirable, but the HUB4100 is a reliable combination and it does help keep the price down, if only a little. The caliber HUB4100 beats at 4Hz and has a power reserve of 42 hours. The movement is visible through the watch's sapphire display caseback which a logo of the crest of the club is printed.
Like last year's Classic Fusion Chronograph Chelsea FC watch, this new Big Bang Chelsea FC watch was created specifically for Chelsea fanatics. Compared to last year's model, this new watch is available in a shade of blue which i think is more accurate and faithful towards the home colors of the club. The Hublot Big Bang Chelsea FC watch is restricted to 200 pieces and is priced at lb13,000 (currently around $17,000). hublot.com
