The Big Bang Unico Novak Djokovic (42 mm, $65,600 CAD) was launched last week at an event with special guests and journalists in Paris, highlighted by a discussion between Hublot CEO Julien Tornare and Djokovic, the Olympic medallist and 24 Grand Slam tennis title holder, followed by the official reveal of the new luxury watch. The Big Bang Unico Novak Djokovic is made of Djokovic’s HEAD racquets and Lacoste polos. Djokovic became a part of the Hublot family in 2021. Since winning his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open in 2008, Djokovic has dominated the most competitive period in tennis history.
Hublot developed a composite made up of 25 HEAD racquets as well as 17 dark blue and 15 light blue Lacoste polos used by Djokovic during his 2023 season, the year in which the world witnessed Djokovic make history and break records with 24 Grand Slams singles titles. The composite that makes up the case and bezel of the watch is made of Epoxy resin reinforced with quartz powder and glass veil that has been fused with the recycled racquets and shirts. The resulting material is speckled with fragments of light and dark blue textiles and black carbon to create a singular camo aesthetic.
To ensure a feather-light feeling on the wrist, Hublot had to find a way to reduce the weight of the watch. Instead of using traditional sapphire crystal, the Swiss luxury watchmaker has chosen tempered Gorilla glass, a material used in high-end electronics and two times lighter than sapphire.
The standard Unico movement in brass had to be reinvented to reduce the weight of the watch. To do so, Hublot chose aluminum, prized for its lightness, and anodized in light blue or grey to echo the camo color scheme of the case. In doing so, Hublot’s engineers were able to reduce the weight of the movement by 27%, shedding almost a third of its weight. Aluminum has also been used for some case components such as side pieces (3H-9H), sub-bezel, bezel lugs, pushers, crown and case-back.
The Big Bang Unico Novak Djokovic comes with four straps for four different styles. The first bracelet is a “Lacoste” tennis wristband that attaches to the watch head with the One Click System, making the watch the perfect tennis companion. The second style is a blue elastic strap, this combination weighs a total of 49.5 grams, lighter than a tennis ball! The third style features a light blue Velcro strap with a polished blue aluminum sports buckle. The last style is a white rubber strap with titanium deployant buckle.
