After an excruciating period of 18 months in which they’ve done a lot of testing, development and research, Hublot have released a diver’s watch, in tight collaboration with the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, which can resist at depths of up to 4,000 meters. And, most interestingly, it’s the first time when the fabled Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, with the Institut Océangraphique Fondation Albert 1st Prince de Monaco, has been associated with a timepiece.
Because the Hublot Oceanographic 4000 King Gold White can resist pressures at depths of up to 4,000 meters, it meets the strict specifications of the international standards of Swiss watchmaking – NIHS. This timepiece comprises extremely high tech parts, while every single piece that this watch features had to be individually developed, tested and then retested.
The seal was tested by the fabled watchmaker in a Roxer tank, configured to mimic depths of 5,000 meters. The Hublot Oceanographic 4000 King Gold White’s sapphire crystal bears a whopping 6.5 thickness and the grade 2 titanium case back has a screw-down system, a must in order to resist those pressures.
As the name tells, the case is made of an alloy that contains 18-carat gold and 5% platinum, giving the superb reddish coloration – this allows it to be almost unnoticeable on the wrist, given the fact that it is quite big and measures a whopping 48 mm in diameter.
In addition, the watch needs to be viewable in conditions of darkness as well. Thus, to provide reading visibility of up to 25 centimeters, the hands, the flange with the hour and minutes indicators and the dial had to be enlarged and coated with white-light-emitting SuperLuminova.
The unidirectional, guarded crown used for set the dive time has been placed at the 2 o’clock position, while the second crown, used for winding and setting the time and date, has been placed at 4 o’clock, for ease of usage. Topping these features, a stainless steel helium valve has been mounted on the timepiece, at the 10 o’clock position, an important detail of divers’ watches, which allows gases that have infiltrated during the descent to escape during the ascension process.
In the end, the Hublot Oceanographic 4000 King Gold White comes with two tongue and buckle straps – “Town” and “Diver” – to allow for a more secure fastening around the wrist and much easier handling while wearing gloves. The “Diver” strap boasts with a mixture of Nomex and white rubber, and is actually longer than a standard strap, being developed to be worn with 8 mm thick divers’ suites. The “Town” strap, on the other hand, is just made of plain, simple white rubber.
[Hublot]
