I've said it before, and I'll say it again, watch brands should look to add more colour.
Of course, the start of 2026 has offered something genuinely encouraging: a Rolex Oyster Perpetual with vibrant inter-folding balls cascading across the watch; a Tudor Black Bay with a saccharine yellow dial, naturally named the Bumblebee; and now, Hublot has reminded the watch world which brand has always revelled in colour – long before horological lookbooks and cyclical trends – releasing the perfect collection for another Euro summer spent on the Med.
The luxury Swiss watchmaker has been operating on this logic since 1980, when Carlo Crocco first paired a gold case with a rubber strap. It may sound modest now, but at the time, it felt like a genuine provocation. Something that was only cemented further through the brand’s innovative launch of the Big Bang – a collection that helped the brand quintuple its sales in just three years.
The watch was oversized, aggressive, built from carbon fibre, ceramic, Kevlar and titanium. It won the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix Design Prize and set the tone for a brand that was simply incapable of playing it safe.
Which brings us to summer 2026. Unveiled in Saint-Tropez this June, the Big Bang Summer collection leads with two hero pieces built around the same pastel composition of mint, pink, and sky blue, differentiated by what's beating beneath the dial.
The 42mm Unico flyback chronograph – limited to just 200 pieces – houses Hublot's manufacture HUB1280 calibre within a sculpted case of microblasted and polished pink and mint green ceramic, framed by a sky-blue bezel.
Five patented innovations sit within the movement, including dual oscillating clutches, a constant-pressure minute counter system, and a zero-friction ratchet blocker, delivering accuracy to -2/+4 seconds per day with a 72-hour power reserve.
For a collection that’s quite literally bursting with colour, it’s almost as though the aesthetics are simply the precursor. What’s underneath is the main event.
The second piece pushes further still – a 44mm tourbillon with a transparent pink sapphire crystal dial exposing the HUB6035 manufacture movement beneath. Hublot has released just 10 pieces.
Beyond the two flagships, Hublot has introduced three monochrome Big Bang ceramics in peach, mint green, and (my personal favourite) the petrol blue. These sit at 33mm on the wrist and arrive without diamonds for the first time in the watchmaker’s history. I guess they are capable of exhibiting some restraint.
A 42mm Titanium Peach Ceramic variant running the Unico flyback chronograph rounds out the range for those who are partial to a skeletonised dial to reveal the watch’s more technical edges, still housed within the collection’s softer seasonal palette.
All pieces arrive with the One-Click interchangeable strap system – three colourways included – and the brand's new 5+5 warranty structure extending coverage to a decade.
Divisive, maybe. Boring, never.
