Latest news with #ClassicFusion
South China Morning Post
16-04-2025
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
Luxury meets practicality in rubber watch straps: Hublot started the trend, now Hermès, IWC, Richard Mille, Chanel and more have their own takes on this blend of casual and high-end
You could think of rubber-strap watches as the kind of accessory you can wear to the school run and then later at cocktail hour. After all, these days, most of us are doing it all. A rubber-strapped watch, especially one in a precious metal and with added gem setting, is therefore the ideal accessory for taking the wearer from day to play – a combination so incongruous as to make perfect sense in our complicated times. Hublot Big Bang Unico Red Magic 42mm. Photo: Handout Advertisement The first luxury Swiss watchmaker to use rubber – a most utilitarian material more associated with, say, hosepipes or flip-flops – was Hublot in 1980. In the conservative world of Swiss horology, this caused a certain amount of outrage. Understandably, Julien Tornare, CEO of Hublot, thinks the brand was visionary in combining such disparate elements. 'Hublot has been a pioneer and is today one of the few luxury watch brands in the market who masters the art of making precious-material watches on a rubber strap,' he says. Hublot Big Bang One Click King Gold White Diamonds. Photo: Handout 'Back in 1980, under Hublot's founder Mr [Carlo] Crocco, the brand shocked the watch industry world by mixing these two materials. This audacious spirit gave birth to what we call today 'the art of fusion'. [It seemed] unlikely that a precious gold watch could fit with a sporty rubber strap, but Hublot showed that this was avant-garde and totally possible.' As Tornare points out, this spirit of fusion and daring still exists in its collections today. The Classic Fusion line includes pieces with a diamond-set bezel, while Big Bang watches integrate a rubber strap with case materials such as the house's proprietary Magic Gold, sapphire, carbon and vividly coloured ceramics.
Khaleej Times
28-03-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Hublot's Big Bang Unico Magic Ceramic: A daring fusion of art and material mastery
Hublot has never been one to play it safe. It's a brand that thrives on the unexpected – fusing materials that shouldn't work together, breaking design norms, and turning watchmaking into a statement of creative defiance. From the very first Classic Fusion in 1980, which paired gold with rubber – a combination that shocked the industry – the brand has been pushing the boundaries of material science. And with the new Big Bang Unico Magic Ceramic, Hublot is taking this to the next level. More than just a technical feat, the new watch is a fascinating leap into uncharted territory. Coloured ceramic is already a tricky business. The extreme heat of the sintering process tends to drain the life out of pigments, leaving colours dull or uneven. Yet, Hublot has managed to craft ceramic cases and components in some of the brightest hues imaginable. Even so, multicoloured ceramic remained a pipe dream – until the brand's R&D and Materials & Metallurgy teams, known internally as the 'alchemists of time', decided otherwise. After more than four years of experimenting, tweaking, and likely a few dead ends, they cracked the code. The result is a patent-pending process that blends multiple ceramic pigments into a single, seamless material – without losing any of the colour's depth or clarity. The Big Bang Unico Magic Ceramic is the result of that quiet obsession. Its 42mm dark grey ceramic case sets the stage for a bezel that feels alive with energy – blue circles that seem to pulse and shift as the light catches them. But here's the thing: those patterns aren't just painted on or chemically treated. They're baked into the very structure of the ceramic. If you sliced the bezel in half, the blue would still be there, running all the way through. It's a level of material mastery that few, if any, brands have ever achieved. There's a hypnotic quality to the design. The blue circles, surrounded by soft halos, create a sense of movement – like ripples in water or light breaking through fog. It's not random, though. Hublot has choreographed every detail to strike a perfect balance between order and chaos. It's contemporary art, distilled into a timepiece. Underneath all this visual drama is the Unico automatic flyback chronograph movement – Hublot's own creation, developed and manufactured entirely in-house. The flyback function allows you to reset the chronograph without stopping it – clean, quick, and effortless. The movement is finished in dark grey tones to complement the ceramic, while the openworked dial gives you a front-row seat to the mechanics in motion. A full black lined rubber strap ties it all together, keeping the vibe sharp and modern. Other brands have flirted with multicoloured ceramic. Some are in the prototype stage, and some others have two-tone ceramic bezels that rely on surface treatments. But Hublot has gone deeper – literally. The patterns and colours in the Magic Ceramic are part of the material itself, not just a surface effect. Only 20 watch aficionados will have the privilege of wearing the Big Bang Unico Magic Ceramic – a watch that proves yet again that Hublot refuses to follow trends or settle for technical half-measures. With this daring creation, Hublot hasn't just pushed the boundaries of ceramic watchmaking – it's rewritten the rulebook, adding a touch of magic to the future of haute horology.
Associated Press
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
RAID: Shadow Legends Celebrates 6th Anniversary with Supreme Galek Giveaway for New Players
TEL AVIV, Israel, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plarium, a global leader in developing F2P mobile and PC games with more than 500 million registered gamers worldwide, announced the sixth anniversary celebration of its acclaimed dark fantasy RPG RAID: Shadow Legends with a month-long event featuring gifts and special LiveOps, community activities, and in-game tournaments beginning today through April 2nd . This year's 'Festival of Creation' is held in the fictional region of Aravia, home to the High Elves Faction, and hosted by new Legendary Champion Lord Entertainer Fabian. Players will have an opportunity to summon this ghostly human through a limited time Classic Fusion event from March 10th through the 26th. To celebrate all fans of RAID, players will also receive a five-day gift chain by logging in on five non-consecutive days now through March 31st. 'We are so proud of the passionate and engaging community that RAID has built over the last six years, as well as the equally passionate development team that works tirelessly to ensure every player has new experiences to enjoy,' said Schraga Mor, CEO of Plarium. 'During a time where gamers have never had more options, we are humbled that so many gamers join the Raid universe every day as their gaming destination of choice. This celebration is for you.' Beyond in-game activities, players can expect exciting community events, along with a special CG animation featuring one of RAID 's original and iconic Champions, Galek, who's been enjoying a peaceful retirement until an unexpected call to action shakes things up. As a callback to one of the game's most storied heroes, Legendary Champion Supreme Galek will be given away to new players via an exclusive promo code. About Plarium Plarium ( is an international gaming company founded in 2009, headquartered in Israel, with over 1,300 employees across Europe. Plarium has built a global footprint for its games and a resilient business based on popular evergreen IPs. Its flagship title, RAID: Shadow Legends, is one of the top-grossing turn-based RPGs on mobile and PC. The studio also powers its success with PlariumPlay, a direct-to-consumer PC platform, and GoGame, a proprietary user acquisition and marketing platform built into its IT infrastructure. To learn more about Plarium, follow @PlariumGames on YouTube, @Plarium on Instagram, and Plarium on LinkedIn.
