News · Hublot

Hublot gives the Big Bang a velvet-like rubber skin

The 43mm Soft Touch overmoulds textured rubber across titanium, then backs it with a Unico flyback chronograph.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 3 September 2026

• Textured rubber is overmoulded into the 43mm titanium case rather than applied as a coating.
• The HUB1280 Unico is a self-winding flyback chronograph with a column wheel and 72-hour reserve.
• The All Red model is listed at AUD36,900 on Hublot's Australian product page.

Hublot has covered the case, bezel, dial and strap of its new Big Bang Original Soft Touch in a textured rubber compound. The surface is not a coating applied after construction. It is formed through an overmoulding process that puts the texture into the material itself, giving the 43mm chronograph a velvet-like finish in All Red or All Black.

That distinction is the whole release. Soft-feel coatings can change the touch of a hard object, but they can also wear through and reveal a different surface below. Hublot says its compound is moulded with thousands of fine micro-elements, so the texture belongs to the rubber rather than sitting on top of it.

Rubber becomes part of the case

The underlying case is titanium. On the All Red reference, red rubber is overmoulded around the titanium case and bezel, while exposed metal hardware provides contrast. The crown is rubber clad and the rectangular pushers use rubber inserts. The dial uses red rubber with the same velvet effect, extending the material from the exterior into the display.

This is not a watch that merely arrives on a rubber strap. Rubber defines nearly every surface the owner sees or touches. The close-up photography shows a fine textile-like grain across the bezel and lug structures, while the dial carries a deeper carbon-style pattern beneath the applied numerals and chronograph registers.

Hublot has retained the exposed screws, layered case construction and rectangular pushers of the Big Bang Original. That is important because a completely smooth rubber shell would have erased the architecture that identifies the model. Instead, the soft surface changes the way familiar parts catch light without changing their arrangement.

The Big Bang still behaves like a sports chronograph

The 43mm case is water resistant to 100 metres and protected by sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment. Those figures keep the Soft Touch within the practical territory of the regular Big Bang Original. The unusual finish does not come with a reduced water-resistance rating.

Inside, the HUB1280 Unico is a self-winding flyback chronograph movement with a column wheel. Flyback operation allows the running chronograph to be reset and restarted with one press, rather than stopping, resetting and starting through three separate inputs. The movement provides approximately 72 hours of power reserve.

Hublot describes five patented elements in the Unico architecture, including its dual-clutch system, layered construction, optimised gear train and skeletonised tungsten rotor shaped like an H. The open-heart Unico reveals its column wheel from the dial side, preserving the mechanical identity of the Big Bang within the material story.

The strap combines black rubber with structured red rubber on the All Red model and uses Hublot's One Click attachment system. A titanium deployant clasp secures it. The quick-change system is especially relevant here because the strap continues the case texture and colour rather than acting as a generic replacement part.

All Red and All Black

All Red reference 431.RXR.2770.RX.VEL is the more demonstrative of the two. Its colour exposes small differences in texture and construction that disappear more easily on a monochrome black watch. All Black takes the opposite approach, using black DLC-coated pushers and a deep black titanium base to make touch, rather than contrast, the defining change.

The two versions also refer to established Hublot colour ideas. All Black has been part of the brand's vocabulary since 2006, while vivid red recalls Hublot's coloured ceramic work. Soft Touch translates those identities into rubber without claiming that the material is ceramic or that the surface has the same properties.

The contrast between them should be experienced as much as photographed. Red makes the micro-texture visible across the bezel and lugs, while black is likely to make the tactile change more surprising because the surface first reads as familiar. The dimensions, movement and water resistance are shared, although the All Black also changes the clasp materials and uses black-coated hardware. The choice is therefore primarily visual and tactile, not entirely identical beneath the colour.

Price and availability

The Big Bang Original Soft Touch All Red is listed at AUD36,900 on Hublot's Australian product page. The collection is available online and through selected Hublot points of sale, subject to availability.

The All Red product page lists reference 431.RXR.2770.RX.VEL and presents the watch as available. That gives Australian buyers a first-party local figure rather than requiring an unofficial currency conversion.

Material innovation in watches is often discussed in terms of hardness, weight or resistance. Hublot is making a more immediate claim: this case should feel different under a fingertip. The execution works because the technical watch underneath remains recognisable. Soft Touch changes the sensory layer, while the Unico chronograph, 100-metre rating and angular Big Bang construction keep doing the harder work.