TIMEWERKE

Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016. This is the Official Watch of the UEFA European Championships 2016. Housed within its 45mm black ceramic case is the Manufacture Unico HUB1261 bi-retrograde automatic movement featuring a column wheel chronograph with 72 hours of power reserve after being fully wound. Water-resistant to 10 atm (100m). Limited to 100 pieces. Photo: © Hublot

The Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016 is a sports watch, more specifically, a football wristwatch as it was specially designed to time football matches.

The engine in this Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016 football sports watch is an in-house Manufacture movement – the Unico HUB 1261 automatic movement.

In addition to the patented self-winding mechanism, it features a bi-retrograde module.

This is the third time Hublot is participating in the UEFA European Championships, a quadrennial football competition (that is, taking place once every four years) for European countries.

The Official Watch of the UEFA EURO 2016 is understandably Hublot’s Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph EURO.

The Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016 watch wears the blue, white and red livery – the colours of the French flag or le drapeau tricolore.

That is because France is the host country of the 15th UEFA European Football Championship that is being played from 10 June 2016 till 10 July 2016.

By our reckoning, this makes the Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016 a “complete” watch. This is, in a sense, somewhat unlike the Hublot Big Bang Unico Bi-Retrograde Chrono King Gold Carbon which was the Official Watch of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

This watch had yellow and green colours on it but it did not have blue to make it “complete” as we mentioned in an earlier article written in 2014, Official Watch of the 2014 FIFA World Cup: Hublot Big Bang Unico Bi-Retrograde Chrono. That is because yellow, green and blue are the colours of the Brazilian flag.

Football is a universal sport played throughout the world and international competitions tend to draw a large spectator audience.

The UEFA EURO 2012 was no exception as more than 8.1 billion viewers watched the matches played on television, according to information provided in the UEFA press kit.

This may sound far-fetched given that the world’s human population is estimated at 7.3 billion. However, it is not far-fetched, simply because the 8.1 billion viewers refer to the cumulative total number of people who watched the UEFA EURO 2012 for all the matches played.

This explains Hublot’s venture and investment into the sport as Jean-Claude Biver, chairman of Hublot and the watches division of LVMH wants the brand to be where potential customers are.

Many more viewers are expected for UEFA EURO 2016 as 24 teams have taken part as compared to 16 in 2012. As such, the total of 51 games will be played, 20 more than in 2012.

In addition, some 150 million TV spectators are expected to follow each game of the UEFA EURO 2016 “live”. Each match is being broadcast live to more than 230 territories around the world.

Just beneath the 12 o’clock position on Hublot’s Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016 is an aperture that will display either “1”, “½”, “2” or “End”. This is what the brand terms the “match period display” which essentially tells you “the ongoing period” or at what stage the football game is at: “1” is for the first half of the match, “½” is for half-time, “2” is for the second half and “End” is for the end of match. Photos: © Hublot

The Official Watch of this year’s UEFA European Championships 2016 is Hublot’s Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph EURO 2016 which is powered by the brand’s in-house Manufacture calibre, the Unico HUB 1261 automatic movement with a bi-retrograde module.

How does the Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph 2016 UEFA EURO 2016 work?

First, some football basics. Every football match officially lasts 90 minutes and this is the regulation time. The game is played over two halves with each half lasting 45-minutes.

There is a fifteen minute interval or half-time between the first and second halves.

Now take a closer look at the Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016 football sports watch

Just below the 12 o’clock position is an aperture that displays either “1”, “½”, “2” or “End”.

Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016 in black ceramic case. It utilises the Manufacture Unico HUB1261 bi-retrograde automatic movement featuring a column wheel chronograph. At the 12 o’clock position is the “match period display”. Limited to 100 pieces. Photo: © Hublot

Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016 in a black ceramic case. It utilises the Manufacture Unico HUB1261 bi-retrograde automatic movement featuring a column wheel chronograph. At the 12 o’clock position is the “match period display”. Limited to 100 pieces. Photo: © Hublot

This is what the brand has termed the “match period display” which essentially tells you “the ongoing period” or at what stage the football game is at: “1” is for the first half of play, “½” is for half-time, “2” is for the second half and “End” is for the end of match.

To select the relevant match time period, the pusher at the 2 o’clock position has to be activated.

How does one use the Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016 to time the football game?

The main display for timing football matches is the circular arc found between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock.

There are two hands for indicating the elapsed time in minutes and seconds. Both hands have their functions (seconds or minutes) indicated on their respective counterweights.

Once the pusher at 2 o’clock is activated the chronograph seconds hand will make its 60-second sweep from “0” at 10 o’clock to “60” at 2 o’clock.

Once it reaches “60”, this chronograph seconds hand will jump back to its point of origin where it once again make its next 60-second sweep. This is the first retrograde feature.

The minute counter hand in red records the elapsed minutes. After every 45 minutes of play, one can stop the minute hand.

If the chronograph is not stopped after 60 minutes, the minute hand will jump back to its point of origin at “0”, and is ready to begin its recording of elapsed time once more.

This is the second retrograde feature which explains why this Hublot UEFA EURO 2016 watch has what is termed the bi-retrograde function.

THE ART OF TIME

Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016: Because football is for everyone

How it works Part 1: Hublot Big Bang Unico Retrograde Chronograph UEFA EURO 2016