You can never have too much color.
No other watchmaker loves the rainbow effect as much as the designers at Hublot. The company regularly frames its bestselling watches in iridescent multicolored rays. You can find rainbow editions of the round Big Bang, the barrel-shaped Spirit of Big Bang and Big Bang MP-11 with its seven barrels and a fortnight's worth of power reserve.
Even the flower seen in Takashi Murakami's work now shimmers in all the colors of the rainbow on a watch created in partnership. The rainbow effect has been used to varying degrees, from just decorating the bezel to full-on pavé, yet it was always achieved using the same stone-setting method for multicolored precious gems.
Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon
MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon is a game changer. This time round, Hublot has decided to use carbon and composite materials. According to the company's statement, not only did this require changing the approach to shaping rainbow gradations, they also had to invent new technology.
The case is essentially braided out of fibers. Bars of carbon are initially laid a few millimeters apart, then bars of coloured composite are woven through the resulting layer, which protrude slightly above the carbon surface. The next step involves filling the technological "weave" with carbon mesh where there's a height difference to raise all the components to the same level, making the surface even and smooth to the touch.
Working with the colors was another challenge: jewelers have long mastered the stone-selection process to achieve the right tone, and Hublot has also succeeded in creating brightly colored ceramic, but creating a complete prism of transitioning shades out of composite coloured inserts is something new. The masters also needed to bear in mind that each colored insert darkens slightly as it's set within the carbon case.
The innovative case has been paired with the HUB9009.H1.RA.B movement first unveiled in 2017. This manually wound movement with a five-day power reserve boasts both surprising specs and design. The off-centered dial for hours and minutes is encircled by a double-disk date display with a view of the movement's details revealed behind it.
But the star of the show is the tourbillon at 6 o'clock, which can be seen in all its glory thanks to the stretched shape of the MP-09 case. And it's worth taking a look: the bi-axial tourbillon rotates once every minute on one axis and every 30 seconds around the second. Availability of the MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon is limited to eight pieces.