You May Think You Hate This Watch Brand, But You’ll Love Its Classy New Chronograph

Hublot’s flagship watch, the Big Bang, has pushed the boundaries of horology for the past 20 years with progressively over-the-top and innovative designs.

But the LVMH-owned watch brand got its start, and its name, with an elegant, relatively understated modern sports watch in 1980.

Hublot

When Italian watch designer Carlo Crocco created the original Hublot, named after its resemblance to a porthole, its English translation, it turned heads for blending a solid gold case with a rubber strap.

But the appearance of the time-and-date watch was otherwise in line with contemporary modern sports watches from brands like Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe.

That elegant, modernist design language lives on in the Classic Fusion collection, which retains the same basic case shape, integrated lugs and bezel — exposed screws and all — devised by Crocco 45 years ago.

Hublot

The Classic Fusion Chronograph has acted as a blank canvas for Hublot to play with a vast range of materials. Many references have stuck to the basic blueprint, while others have displayed Hublot’s more adventurous design tendencies.

The new Classic Fusion Chronograph Bronze Brown is about as understated as the brand gets, and could easily be mistaken for one of its luxury integrated sports watch peers.

It has a solid bronze case with a “black brushed” finish that brings out the range of hues and textures in humanity’s oldest alloy.

Cold fusion

The original Hublot watch was provocative for pairing gold and rubber, which is insignificant now but was blasphemous in 1980, and the Classic Fusion collection carries on the idea of “fusing” disparate materials.

Hublot

Sometimes the blending comes in the form of an incongruous case material and strap, but in this example, it is an unusual strap construction. The integrated strap is made of brown alligator leather sewn into a black rubber frame.

The design sounds nuts, but it has some benefits. The rubber underside is soft on the wrist and protects the leather from sweat and oils excreted from the skin that can age and damage the leather.

Hublot

While brown and black typically don’t match, it works here because of the dark shading in the leather, and the combination is found naturally in the bronze case finish. The fusion strap actually complements the case really well.

What brown can do for you

Hublot dials can be confusing, outfitted with sci-fi complexities, but this Classic Fusion dial is demure. It has a chocolate brown color with sunburst radial brushing that blends perfectly with the case.

The beveled applied indices, hands, subdials and logo are all yellow gold. It creates a two-tone effect that carries over to the case with exposed yellow gold H-shape screws.

Hublot

The Classic Fusion Chronograph Bronze Brown — the collection’s naming convention combines the color of the case and the color of the dial — runs on an ETA-based Caliber HUB1143 automatic movement with a 4Hz frequency and a 48-hour power reserve.

The bi-compax chronograph has a clean small seconds at three o’clock and a 30-minute totalizer at nine o’clock.

Just like the case design, the movement is straightforward and does only what you need it to do. Hublot may be known for extravagant and ornate watches, but it can still do sleek and sophisticated as well as any luxury brand.

Availability and price

By Hublot standards, the Classic Fusion Chronograph Bronze Brown is affordable, which is to say that it costs $17,500. It is a limited edition of only 30 pieces sold exclusively through the brand’s American web store.

Hublot

Hublot Classic Fusion Chronograph Bronze Brown

Specs

Case Size	45mm
Movement	Hublot caliber HUB1143 automatic
Water Resistance	50m

• $17,500 at Hublot

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