Hublot’s MP-10 Tourbillon just got more extreme with these two novelties

Hublot has just spent the last three years building 50 examples of its MP-10 Tourbillon – a watch so extreme in its mechanical design that it doesn’t have a dial, hands or even an oscillating weight.

With those watches complete, the company set its sights on something even more extreme: a pair of cases made from black ceramic and polished sapphire.

The latter is among one of the most unusual watches I’ve ever seen. It takes the MP-10 design hallmarks – a tourbillon movement turning a set of rollers instead of hands on a dial – and wraps it in a transparent case made from sapphire crystal. Practically all of the movement’s 592 components are on display, and even the rubber strap is transparent.

As you’ll surely know, sapphire is often used to protect the dial of high-end watches, its incredible toughness and scratch-resistance a great alternative to mineral glass, which is more prone to breaking on impact. But it’s one thing to fit a circular disc of sapphire crystal over the dial, and quite another to make the whole case from it.

Yet that’s exactly what Hublot has done here – and it’s a fairly big case, too. Rectangular in shape, it measures 41.5mm across, 54.1mm tall and is 22.4mm thick. Water resistant to 30 metres, the sapphire case houses Hublot’s HUB9013 self-winding skeleton movement, complete with a tourbillon inclined at 35 degrees.

Further highlights include a pair of vertical bidirectional weights made from 22K white gold, satin-polished bridges and a balance plated in polished Rhodium.

Hours and minutes are indicated by a pair of anodised grey aluminium cylinders, while the seconds are shown on a third cylinder fastened to the suspended tourbillon. There’s a splash of colour on the power reserve indicator, which sits below the minute roller and uses segments of green, orange and red to show how much of the movement’s 48 hours of reserve is remaining.

Priced at £380,000, the watch is limited to just 30 examples. A model with a micro-blasted black ceramic case is also available, which is otherwise identical but uses black anodised aluminum for its components, including the hour and minute rollers. It also comes on a black rubber strap, is limited to 50 examples, and has a price of £285,000.