Hublot Cathedral Minute Repeater Tourbillon And Column Wheel Chronograph Watch

The horological highlight from Hublot this year was the long-named "Cathedral" Minute Repeater Tourbillon and Column Wheel Chronograph watch. In a King Power style case, this watch boasts a case formed out of carbon fiber and a very complex movement that has (Yup, you guessed it!) the time, a tourbillon, a minute repeater, and a chronograph.

Presenting it was Hublot CEO Jean-Claude Biver on the first day of Baselworld 2011. In front of a group of us he activated the watch, put a microphone to it, and allowed us to hear the loud minute repeater. As I have stated before, when I mentioned this watch in my Baselworld top picks for 2011 article, the interesting side effect of having a carbon fiber case is that the minute repeater function isn't muffled by metal.

So when Hublot created a minute repeater watch out of carbon fiber - a light material that allows more air to reverberate inside the case - it ended up with a rather nice sounding minute repeater watch compared to something in gold or platinum. It does make me wonder about a titanium minute repeater, though. Hublot just bought a company that makes carbon fiber and have been on a big carbon fiber kick for a while so I doubt that the strength of the minute repeater was really considered much in advance. So, as previously stated, it is a positive side effect of the case being in carbon fiber. For Hublot, this just another "fusion" piece combining traditional complications with high-tech material.