Three years after Hublot unveiled its celebrated Magic Gold - still the only scratch-resistant gold - a noble material protected by patents, certified as 18 carats by the Central Office for Precious Metals Control, and developed by Hublot in Switzerland alongside the prestigious EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), several months of fine-tuning took place in the manufacture to machine the famous alloy.
Hublot's gold - Magic Gold - is the hardest in the world, and by some margin: it can only be successfully machined using diamond. Its hardness of almost 1000 Vickers eliminates the traditional weak point of gold and its alloys, which are very easily scratched.
This material is a fusion of 24 carat gold and the latest high-tech materials expertise. Components made from this material are produced using a complex process: A boron carbide powder is pre-formed in moulds very similar in shape to that of the finished parts, in this case the watch's bezel. The pre-formed powder is then hardened at a very high temperature, creating a rigid, porous structure. After this operation, 24K gold alloyed with 3% molten liquid gold is injected under very high pressure with inert gas at a high temperature, allowing the metal to fill the ceramic pores and creating a "fusion" of the two to produce Magic Gold.
The first watches made from Magic Gold were presented at BaselWorld2012 in a limited Big Bang Ferrari edition. Hublot has now decided to produce the Big Bang Unico with a bezel in Magic Gold. The bezel is indeed one of the components most susceptible to scratches. Its instantly recognisable colour and mechanical properties will be of particular interest to enthusiasts.
