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The beginning of the year traditionally signals a barrage of new watch launches. Despite the annual SIHH trade fair’s shift to April, a heavyweight class of brands took to LVMH Watch week to unveil some rather impressive new timepieces.
Hublot
Big Bang Unico Integral
This year is a big one for Hublot. Not only is the brand’s 40th anniversary, but it also celebrates the 15th year of its flagship model the Big Bang. Therefore it makes sense that its most impressive new release centered around that model, namely the Big Bang Unico Integral. As the name suggests, the Swiss watchmaker finally caved to the ‘metal bracelet’ trend and produced it’s very first sports watch with an integrated metal strap. Watches like Audemar Piguet’s Royal Oak, the Rolex Datejust and the Patek Phillipe Nautilus are iconic because of their bracelets, so it makes sense for Hublot to have made one for its flagship Big Bang line. Backing up its ‘Art of Fusion’ tagline, Hublot is labelling its new piece a ‘Fusion between the Big Bang and Integrated bracelet’, but what we love is its all-black ceramic satin-finish and with black-plated titanium screws. Classy.
Bulgari
Octo Finissimo Steel
Bulgari’s super-slim Finissimo range continues to be a favourite among sports watch owners looking for something a tad more inventive than your bog-standard Royal Oak. Having already assured Bulgari’s place in the pantheon of haute horlogerie as the standard bearers of the world’s thinnest complicated watches in precious materials is assured, but this year its flagship piece has been created in a lower-priced stainless steel, making the brand more price accessible and inevitably more profitable.
TAG Heuer
Carrera 160 years
Silver Limited Edition
Alright, so TAG Heuer didn’t properly unveil this at LVMH Watch Week—instead, it gave select journalists and creators a sneak peek at the watch, before properly launching it a few days after. The new TAG has been created to honour both the first Heuer Carrera chronograph,
as well as the company’s 160th anniversary. The brand has largely stayed true to its original aesthetic, including the monochromatic silver dial with sunburst pattern, and three chronograph counters. Its size has been upgraded—from 36mm to 39mm—and the shape of the hands are bulkier to allow for SuperLuminova coating. Now powered by TAG’s Calibre Heuer 02 movement, it has a power reserve of 80-hours and limited to just 1,860 pieces.
Zenith
Elite 40 Classic
Zenith took some time away from celebrating its favourite El Primero range to shed some much needed attention on its classic Elite range for the year.
By the brand’s own omission they felt the previous incarnation of the collection had missed the mark, and that was something that they intended to right enlisting designer George Nelson. At LVMH Watch Week the new 40mm collection was unveiled sporting a sleek new 1950s inspired minimalist design in both steel and 18k rose gold. The most obvious change has been on the dial, which now displays (whatever the colour or the complication) a stamped radial sunray pattern, giving the watches a graphic and dynamic look. It is combined with faceted and tapered applied indexes and dauphine hands.
