David Tedeschi, Regional Director Middle East and Africa at Hublot, during Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition held a DECC. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula
Hublot, renowned international, watches brand, unveiled its latest offerings for 2019 at the annual Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition, a varied collection ranging from new Big Bang models to timeless and artistic Classic Fusions.
The star of the latest unveiled novelties is without a doubt the all new Big Bang Unico 45 mm.
Unveiled in Geneva last month concurrently with the SIHH, the brand whose mission statement is “The Art of Fusion” stakes a claim to another watch-world first: the first timepieces ever adorned with ultra-rare, baguette-cut Paraíba Tourmaline stones.
Paraiba Tourmaline was discovered in 1989 in the Brazilian state of Paraíba from which it takes its name, and achieves its distinctive, irridescent turquoise hue from its combination (or fusion, if you will) of gold, manganese, and copper.
Its extreme rarity makes the Paraíba even more coveted and expensive than other precious stones such as diamonds, emeralds, and rubies: a single Paraíba stone is mined, on average, for every 10,000 diamonds.
The rarity of the stones are matched only by the difficulty of applying the baguette cut to them. Baguette cutting requires stones of perfectly uniform color, a restriction that necessitated five times more raw material than usual for the initial stone selection.
Even after each of the selected stones was baguette-cut, only 70 percent of this much smaller pool could be set into cases, with the other 30 percent rejected due to breakage or inconsistent quality or color.
