Hublot extends ceramic even further by releasing the first high-end watch with red ceramic. Red is now added to white, black, blue, brown, and gray which are used in more and more watches each year as ceramic’s popularity increases. Hublot isn’t new to taking the lead when it comes to novel materials. In the past we have seen them create special combinations of materials: for King Gold a mixture of copper and platinum is used to stabilize and colorize the precious metal while to create the highly scratch resistant Magic Gold an alloy of pure gold and ceramics had been invented. They also released the first red-tinted sapphire crystal in a timepiece. For Only Watch Auction, Hublot wanted to add a unique flair to a material that has been becoming ubiquitous in the entire industry in line with the red theme color of the charity auction.

Used for the bezel, this new bright red ceramic is straight from the foundries and R&D dungeons of the manufacture. The brand premieres it with its one-of-a-kind Classic Fusion Skeleton Tourbillon piece, made exclusively for the Only Watch Auction. The charity event will take place in Monaco in late September, 2013. Of course the red shade of the bezel was carefully chosen to match the red of Monaco and its “magic formula” has been internationally patented. Zirconium dioxide – as it is less often referred to – is sintered at very high temperatures to achieve its hardness and scratch resistance. Thanks to those qualities it is mostly used for parts of the case and also for the bezel of certain models. Pure zirconium oxide ceramic is white and translucent, but may be colored black, yellow, blue, or now bright red by mixing in complex mixtures of metal oxides.

The Classic Fusion Skeletonize tourbillon has a 45mm wide case made of ceramics, titanium and a composite resin. The tourbillon movement is Hublot’s in-house MHUB6010.H1.1 with 5 days of power reserve, 19 jewels and it beats at 21,600 bph. The strap is black alligator on black rubber with red stitches and a PVD steel deployment buckle. Make sure you do not miss any of the other unique pieces, they are all listed in Ariel’s round-up! Ref. 505.CI.0140.LR.OWM13 hublot.com   onlywatch.com