Hublot Big Bang e: Fancy a Wear OS smartwatch for RM22,000?

Smartwatches have slowly become the norm, as more and more users see the benefits of having a nifty little supercomputer on their wrists. Besides the increasing number of models available from tech manufacturers such as Apple and Huawei, we’re now also seeing attempts made from conventional timepiece experts such as Hublot.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that we’re seeing a smartwatch from the Swiss watchmakers—Hublot released the Big Bang Referee back in 2018. But the company has just announced another smartwatch for the Big Bang range: the Hublot Big Bang e. Now, first things first: this watch retails for a starting price of US$5,200—roughly RM22,000.

As per its name, the Big Bang e picks up a lot of its design traits from other timepieces in the Big Bang series, with the smartwatch available in two variants: Titanium and Black Ceramic. The latter is the more expensive of the two with a US$5,800 (~RM24,728). Both variants are identically sized, however, at 42mm for the watch casing along with a sapphire glass watch face and a rotary dial for navigation.

What’s a little more interesting (besides that price tag) is the fact that the Big Bang e runs on Wear OS, which is Google‘s smartwatch operating system—the watch is also powered by the Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor. This means that users will have access to Google’s suit of smartwatch apps and services, including Google Play and Google Pay.

While publications have complained over a perceived lack of NFC, we’ve since confirmed that Hublot’s smartwatch will indeed have NFC connectivity for use with payment apps such as Google Pay. However, the watch conspicuously misses out on GPS, which is a pretty big negative on a smartwatch in 2020—especially one that is this expensive.

Regardless, you’re aso getting a 1.2″ AMOLED display pushing a resolution of 390×390 pixels, along with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage for you to store apps and—presumably—music. The rest of the watch’s internals are fairly average, and a 300mAh battery has a disappointing estimate of only one day, with a full charge taking two and a half hours.

Still, I suppose the watch makes up for some disappointing smartwatch specs with some of Hublot’s undoubted watchmaking expertise. The watch casing is made from ceramic, and materials of the watch as a whole appear to be very premium, perhaps explaining the premium price tag.

“For Hublot, materials are an integral part of their watches’ design. They must complement their design, while protecting their mechanism and withstand the test of time. As such, the Manufacture has chosen to use high-tech ceramic for certain bezels and cases; it is an ultra-tough and almost entirely scratch-proof material (apart from the diamond) with a base of zirconium sintered at very high temperatures.”

I suppose you’re also paying for the Hublot brand, although I feel like they could’ve at least improved on the battery life of the Big Bang e, and definitely added in a built-in GPS receiver. I will caveat this by saying I’ve never been a fan of luxury goods—I’ve also never been able to afford them—so the Hublot Big Bang e could still fill a niche for luxury watch users who want some added (but limited) smartwatch functionality on their wrists.

Either way, the Hublot Big Bang e doesn’t have a release date at the moment. You can, however, stay up to date by signing up to be notified via email by clicking here.

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