Love it or hate it… Well, I was going to make a lofty statement here, but the point lies in just those five words. Love it. Or, hate it. The top replica Hublot Big Bang UNICO Mint Green Ceramic watches is a conceptually simple and technically complex watch that I, for one, adored wearing for five or six weeks, with the constant nagging question: How could anyone not like this?
It’s impossible to bring someone who loves this watch to hate it. There is nothing you could say about it or do to it that would lead someone beguiled by it to disown it. Interestingly, I can somehow imagine the contrary with a twist. Had folks had the time to wear this for a few weeks, not all, but at least some of them would be a lot more likely to experience a turn in their attitude. I can imagine these people saying, “I hate myself for saying this, but I quite like this,” or “Don’t tell anyone I know, but this is cool,” or “Meh, I guess it’s not too bad.”
The cheap fake Hublot Big Bang UNICO Mint Green Ceramic watches is like a daft, short, excitable dog with an oscillating clutch. It is very easy to hate the dog for laying eggs on the carpet, or for breathing in your face before the crack of dawn. Then again, its presence has the unquestionable, very real ability to positively affect the overall mood, no matter the place, time of day, or the mood you were already in. If you were feeling up, you feel “more up.” If you were feeling down — unless you were really, really down — it might just help sneak that first streak of light through the far end of the tunnel.
This watch is exactly like that. There arguably is no object (other than maybe something deeply personal), and especially no luxury object, that will guide you through a deep, dark, depressing time. They become even more meaningless and disposable than they already are — at least they did in my experience. But if you are having a good time, those good times can become even better when you have something that underlines that experience, amplifies it, and in a way fits into it. Too many luxury chronograph watches do little to nothing to add to a good time, memorable occasion, or whatever, because they are as serious as math homework. Would you want your math notebook rolled up and under your arm while having your well-earned first sip, leaned back, beachside? I sure wouldn’t. And just like that, for years, I have no longer wanted a serious watch to be on me or around me whenever I’m having fun.
I recognize that after having handled thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of watches, the threshold for what first registers in my mind is rather high. I do, however, try to put that to the side, which is not that difficult to do because I can totally see folks with little-to-average watch collecting history wearing this mint green Hublot, too. Not just us fried-brain watch writer-photographers, looking for our next hit.
Why, then, would anyone be drawn to this Hublot (that looks like it’s been dipped in turquoise Hammerite) and not something they know their “peers” would more generally and vocally appreciate? An AP Royal Oak will get you more street cred (if that’s what you want, you do you, and I’ll see you once you are past that phase), a Chopard L.U.C will soothe your eyes more, and a Lange will give your OCD that “homework done right” feel it so desperately needs. And the list goes on and on until you arrive at a mint-green Big Bang on a rubber strap with misaligned screws all over it.
From the moment I put it on, and through many moments I happened to experience with it on, this particular watch reminded me of how some people are just more fun to be around than others. And this watch is the sort that looks and feels like a natural accessory to someone like that. (Other watches are indeed available to go with a fun someone, but if you are already angrily typing, who knows, maybe you aren’t one of them.) Food for thought: It is also interesting how the watch industry offers so many more options to those who want to express or emphasize a serious side of themselves, whatever that may be, and how rare (albeit increasingly more available) watches are that allow the wearer to tell the world, “‘sup?”
Let’s talk specifics. AAA copy Hublot watches claims this Big Bang UNICO Mint Green Ceramic Chronograph (reference 441.GS.5221.RX) is 42mm wide. Well, it’s not. It’s only 42mm if you measure between the little corner at 8 o’clock and the little corner at the base of the chronograph start-stop pusher at 2 o’clock. Is that technically 42mm? Yes. Do people use this measurement system to establish comparison between various watches they don’t have next to each other? Sure. So, does this Big Bang wear like a 42mm watch? Not even close.
Calling this 42mm was a bucketload of euphemism from Hublot, as it tried to go with the ever-decreasing watch size trend. It is noticeably smaller than the 45mm version in which the Big Bang UNICO had originally — and for a long time, exclusively — existed. But it’s not your average 42mm watch; it’s more like a 43.5-44mm. The integrated lug structure, while it narrows and downturns sharply, extends far out from the bezel, and the straps leave that structure not straight down, but rather at an angle that extends the perceived lug-to-lug size.
On the wrist… hmm… Calling this a 42mm watch is not a terrible way to lure people in. If you are looking for a vibrant, massive-looking chronograph, you’ll probably also have some wiggle room in terms of millimeters. Overall thickness isn’t terrible at 14.5mm, thanks in no small part to the reworked UNICO caliber we’ll discuss shortly. Wearing comfort is as good as Big Bang UNICO watches have ever gotten, and it is clear that perfect Hublot clone watches have fine-tuned little details here and there to make them more accommodating. Still, a few details need fixing. I despise the two little welded dots on the underside of the clasp’s blade that are in constant contact with the skin.
The overall shape the straps take on when the clasp is done up now more closely resembles the cross-section of the human wrist, so it’s less of a choice between a good fit at the top and bottom edges of the wrist (where the lugs end) or the top and bottom flat parts. Previously, had I set the former up right, I’d have the clasp dig sharply into the underside of my wrist. Had I fixed that, I could fit two fingers between the strap and the edge of my wrist elsewhere. This is now a lot better, but still not perfect, at least on my arm. The unusually large number of adjustment holes is a welcome (albeit not recent) change on Hublot watches, while the one-click quick-release strap change system works well and with ease. It’s operated by those buttons that look like micro-USB sockets. I’d take the straps off time to time and just admire the little “pod” that the watch head is on its own.
Special recognition goes to the stellar color-matching between the various components. No matter if they are ceramic, metal, rubber, or plastic, Hublot has managed to unify these colors in an exemplary way, and it is one heck of a task to get this even half as right as it is here. The ultimate technological tour de force is, however, the UNICO 2 movement. Ariel and I interviewed Christophe Lyner, Watch movement designer ETS, of Hublot, precisely on the developments to Hublot’s in-house caliber, the UNICO. This particular watch also rocks that updated construction, and all I can say is beg, plead, and urge you to read that article because the little, hitherto unknown and unseen engineering details within will get even the most traditionally minded watch enthusiast excited. Guaranteed.
In short, the UNICO is on full display in the 1:1 fake Hublot Big Bang UNICO Mint Green Ceramic watches, and, as you can see, not just in its name. Unlike many of today’s expensively developed and then forcefully exposed movements with little to actually show, this one does have impressive functions worth showing off. The column wheel is a given at this price point, and arguably so is the silicon escape wheel (although probably less universal than you would think), but the real showpiece is the UV-LiGA-made clutch just above 8 o’clock.
This wheel, with countless arched teeth, is actually complemented by another similar wheel below it. This is the oscillating clutch, the device that starts and stops driving the chronograph on demand. The chronograph needs power and timing information delivered to it whenever it is set to run, and this task is fulfilled by a clutch. Clutches in mechanical chronograph watches are traditionally either vertically or horizontally aligned. We talked about them many times. This, however, oscillates. It tilts toward or away from the wheel it is designed to drive.
This is some wild stuff in horology. And you can see it in action every time you interact with the chronograph — hence the open dial and hence its reveal just by the 8 o’clock marker. Had this been done by Patek, or AP, or Rolex, folks would be getting this tattooed on the forehead of their newborn child. So let’s show some appreciation here. All the more so since this is not some exotic solution that needs only to work in 100-500 watches a year. It is fitted to all UNICO 2-equipped watches, which are made in thousands, if not tens of thousands, a year. It’s also an unquestionably elegant solution to a clutch system and an equally elegant use of modern manufacturing technology.
In other news, the UNICO 2 is 1.3mm thinner than the original, despite implementing a new modular way of installing the entire escapement, making long-term servicing easier. It is lubricated with a fully automated system at the Nyon manufacture of Hublot to ensure all oiling points function perfectly. The Pellaton self-winding system in the first-gen has been replaced with a double-reversing switch with ball bearings. The chronograph seconds hand — and this, in fact, is my absolute favorite part in this Big Bang, and within my personal Top 3 Watch Movement Engineering Solutions Ever — has its tension adjusted and ensured by a tiny ceramic ball that lives in the bowels of the movement. I want to own these UK buy replica watches just for this one single engineering solution.
There is so much to be proud and excited about when you are wearing a UNICO-equipped Big Bang. It is one of the most ingeniously constructed, more capable in-house chronograph movements from the last decade. The fact that it offers 72 hours of power reserve combined with a 4Hz operating frequency and one of the quietest operations (winding sound, ticking), and is composed of 354 parts, is just the tip of the technological iceberg that it is.
Yet, perhaps most of all, you can be proud because you are wearing a watch nobody else told you, encouraged you, or “influenced” you into buying it. Okay, maybe this article will also help a little. I don’t mean to discredit other, more convenient luxury watch choices. Dropping any amount of money past $50 on a watch is an emotional, and thus bold, move that we should all respect and encourage. We should be happy for that person’s choice. But I find it difficult to unsee a bold, fun, colorful, outlandish choice as at least a little more admirable.
Giving this odd, mint green, bulky, ridiculous-looking chronograph back was not unlike bringing that daft, small, excitable dog back to the shelter. It leaves a mark, because its effect — small or large — was tangible and real on so many occasions, and in so many moments. In closing, all I can say is this: if you are given the choice between a fun watch and a peer-approved, more boring choice, always, always get the fun one. Here’s something serious for you: The high quality copy Hublot Big Bang UNICO Mint Green Ceramic watches (Hublot 441.GS.5221.RX) is priced at $26,400 USD.
