Hublot Magic Gold - Achieving the Unachievable.
Fancy treating yourself to a gold watch? Now even the most clumsy and blundering watch wearer can have one. Hublot have created scratch-proof 18 carat gold, which they have very aptly named Hublot Magic Gold.
Metallurgy and Watchmaking are no strangers. Hublot already have their own bespoke material, Hublonium, Rolex have "Rolesium", a construction rather than a material term, Zenith have "Zenithium" and Richard Mille are experts in the use of Alusic - all techy stuff. Silicon escapement wheels are all the rage and the use of carbon particles, ceramics, carbonitrides have become the norm. Watches are getting stronger, harder and lighter.
What is different about Hublot's Magic Gold is that although it may have been discovered in the lab, it is a retrospective to a very classical watchmaking material. A gold watch is a traditional symbol of achievement, wealth and elegance. A gold watch is something to be treasured and passed on, an heirloom piece. What the creation of Magic Gold has done is to remove all the disadvantages of gold, a soft magnet for imperfections and made it wearable for today's wear-and-tear generation.
Hublot have worked in partnership with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) to develop the material, the process of which can be used in the future on materials other than gold. The term "magic" was conceived when the material which although first appeared as a black mass, became golden when it was polished.
Hublot will present the first generation of watches created using Magic Gold during Baselworld 2012.
More information and images of the processes involved in the creation of Magic Gold at Hublot Nation.