Even almost two decades into practicing — and at times mastering — its “Art of Fusion” approach to watchmaking, Hublot is still not given enough credit for what it has achieved in the field of practical application of materials sciences in horology. In other words, it is as though the community has gotten used to Hublot leaving everyone else in its trails in this important field. If the dial says “Hublot,” it’s apparently normal that we see mind-bending materials and their applications in watches, but is it actually supposed to be like that? Wearing the $500,000 Hublot Big Bang Integrated Tourbillon Full Blue Sapphire watch at Watches & Wonders 2023 reminded me of this conundrum. Scrolling through my Watches & Wonders 2023 photography archives, one brand stands out from the rest (and does so by some considerable margin) when it comes to presenting and applying thoroughly modern materials in watchmaking, and that brand is Hublot. We saw full Texalium and carbon fiber cases ...