New Watch! • 13 Oct 2022
Hublot Cooks Up a Storm with the Big Bang Unico Gourmet
Hublot launches a new Big Bang Unico featuring Damascus steel to celebrate its gastronomy family. The new 42mm chronograph comes on a bracelet cut from the fabric of cooking aprons with a Velcro fastener. This iconic watch is a limited edition of 200 pieces.
In 2017, Hublot began its gastronomic adventure, with Michelin-starred Swiss chef Andreas Caminada, and seven Michelin-starred chefs have since joined the Hublot family. In this new Big Bang Unico Gourmet, Hublot transposes the chef’s steel of preference onto that of its watches.
Read more: Clare Smyth, chef and Friend of Hublot, on how Timing is of the Essence
A Steel of Legends
Damascus steel, historically known as Wootz, is believed to originate from the Damascus region in 300BC, forged to make the most resistant and cutting swords. Today, the term refers to a technique for hammering and folding steel to make it more resistant. The same Damascus steel is also used for kitchen knives prized by chefs, as the steel is able to retain its sharp cutting edge.
For the Hublot Big Bang Unico Gourmet, the case and bezel are made from a special Damascus steel. Damasteel, a Swedish company who have mastered this material since 1876, has created this unique steel with greater resistance and a unique weave pattern on its surface. Unlike traditional steel, Damasteel is a composite created from two types of steel that are forged, folded, and folded again before being pressed. A matrix rendering sees the two materials welded together, producing a unique pattern every time. Surface corrosion of the composite reveals the stratification of the two types of steel. Continuing with the spirit of gastronomy, the Big Bang Unico Gourmet comes on a bracelet cut from the fabric of cooking aprons, with a practical Velcro fastener for ease of wear.
Unique Fusion in the Kitchen
A private dinner on 12 October 2022 brings together four Michelin-starred chefs, with two of them in the kitchen, and two at the table. Anne-Sophie Pic and Yannic Alléno have been given carte blanche to create a dinner that is “first, unique, different”.
The menu developed in tandem represents the Hublot philosophy: respect for raw materials, and a taste for innovation. It will be a fusion of Pic’s instinctive and intuitive cuisine, with Alléno’s experimental and modernist technique. For a change, chefs Eneko Atxa and Paul Pairet shares in the one-off culinary experience with one hundred guests in the dining room.
“At Hublot, we love high gastronomy, we love people who convey their savoir faire and their signature onto their dishes, those who know how to fuse ingredients to make them unique while staying authentic This dinner is so much more than a Michelin-starred dinner, more than symbolic, it is a pivotal moment in the history of Hublot gastronomy that sees two of the greatest chefs in the world come together to create one menu. A moment which we mark with the unique imprint of Damascus steel, this legendary steel that is also the greatest ally of chefs, from their kitchen knives to, from today, their wrists.” Ricardo Guadalupe, CEO of Hublot.
The new Hublot Big Bang Unico Gourmet comes in 42mm Damasteel case and is powered by the HUB 1280 manufacture self-winding chronograph movement with 72-hour power reserve. It is a limited edition of 200 pieces.