Beyond being a sponsor of special events, since 2011, Hublot has been the ‘official timekeeper’ of Ferrari. Hublot and Ferrari have since collaborated to form an exclusive partnership between the two luxury power brands. Hublot’s biggest partnership deal – to make a Ferrari-inspired watch, and thus in 2013 the MP-05 LaFerrari watch was born.
Considering and comparing appearances, the Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari is a development of the Hublot La Cle Du Temps. The two watches have a smooth, tapering black case with semi-organic design as well as horizontally installed tourbillons that stem out on the lower part of the case. The MP-05 LaFerrari adapted design DNA from the 2013 LaFerrari car, the entity where the name is borrowed. Both the watch and the car follow the iconic sleek streamlined appearance.
The Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari basks in outstanding technical and structural designs. It boasts of unorthodox but sound engineering, intricately created with other 630 parts. The watch announces itself, grabs your curiosity with the roar of its aesthetics and displays itself like the dashboard of an F1 race car. It lets you explore and allows you to experience time in a better dimension. There are a few models available, a first original model, an all-black model, titanium and yellow models, and an all-sapphire model respectively. What makes this collection even more prestigious, is the knowledge that there are only about 50 made worldwide. Meaning the owner of one, is truly on a podium with an elite few.
Dial
This watch is ear-marked by its beautiful transparent skeleton dial. It has a suspended vertical tourbillion, showcased through the window at the 6 o’clock position of the watch. Much of the complexity is of course in the design, but also to allow for the impressive power reserve. Time is shown through the drums that are displayed at the top left and right corner of the watch.
The hours and minutes are shown on the right side; beside the central vertical barrels with the aid of revolving anodised black aluminium cylinders. Opposite the time window are cylinders that work as power reserve and second display. The reinforcing bars are produced from anodised red aluminium, and they rest on either side of the 11 barrels positioned at the centre part of the watch. They also bring Ferrari’s signature hue to mind.
A large part of the dial is open, with a nicely shaped sapphire crystal and view into much of the Hublot made calibre HUB 9005.H1.6 manually wound movement. The movement has more parts than any other movement they have manufactured in the past; 637 parts in just the watch movement itself. Practically, the movement provides the time and power reserve indicator, together with a tourbillon. The MP-05 LaFerrari has a Super-Luminova feature that enhances the dark or night projection of the numeral and indices in each drum.
Case
This watch is available in a few different cases: Microblasted Black Titanium and Microblasted Black PVD Titanium. With a 15.30 mm thickness, its Tourbillion cage is also measured at 14.50 mm, 45.8 x 39.5 mm. This incredible carbon fibre cased watch is adorned with 108 jewels and 637 parts. There are some minimal design cues in the watch from the Ferrari automobile, the top crystal is one. The entire case design imitates the shape of a Ferrari sports car, though it is a minimal connection.
Its first version was limited to just 50 pieces. New versions of the timepiece dropped in 2014: the Titanium and Yellow Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari, these were limited edition too, with only 20 pieces made. Unlike the deeper black colour of the original, the titanium model is matte bead blasted and finished in a lighter grey colour that looks more like natural titanium. The yellow brings out and represents the outstanding colour of the car engine.
In 2015, a new limited edition MP-05 LaFerrari collection was released. This new timepiece incorporates some of the basic features that made the original MP-05 La-Ferrari such a stand-out brand in the watch industry: its aerodynamic design, engine-like alignment, and ground-breaking 50-day power reserve. The red aluminium bars that symbolise the colour of the famous Prancing Horse have been changed to black colour. They have been effortlessly integrated into the advanced aerodynamic design with a controlled connection to the Prancing Horse.
2016 ushered in the latest piece, the MP-05 LaFerrari Sapphire. The all-sapphire timepiece flaunts a grand architectural design that cannot be ignored in a luxury watch market. The movement is incredibly cool, and inside of the sapphire crystal case, it is more visible than ever. Hublot did not design the Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari Sapphire from one particular piece of sapphire crystal, but rather seven parts that fit together nicely.
According to the brand, each Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari Sapphire case demands about 600 hours of machining work. Furthermore, the case weighs 53.5 grams. The watch possesses the same 30 meters of water resistance as do all the previous models. Although this can only be deemed as splash resistance, I doubt any owner of this timepiece is looking to take a dive in the ocean with it (there are other watches more attuned with such needs).
No traditional crowns or adjustors exist for this timepiece, the winding is a complicated chore, so Hublot has kindly provided tools to assist. The LaFerrari watches come with a small electronic screw-driver toolset which allows the user to wind and set the watch. No doubt. You can only wind the timepiece with a unique instrument. It is attached to the port on the top of the case for setting the time and winding the movement. Why a tool? Mainly because of the torque (and time) required to wind the many barrels. Winding a movement simply takes too long by hand, and forever is not luxury (but a small Hublot power tool is).
Wearability
Some watch manufacturers sometimes stretch the ‘transparent’ theme a bit too much. For this model, Hublot merged a mostly transparent “frosted” silicone strap with a titanium buckle or clasp. Owners of this watch can also swap out the strap for something decided by personal taste, or a bit more fashionable as the transparent theme of the sapphire crystal case is enough on its own without extending to the strap.
MP-05 La-Ferrari timepieces came with rubber straps of plenty of options. There is the black and white alligator strap, rub-off alligator and jean, black and orange lined rubber, black alligator, all-blue alligator, dark brown alligator, camel alligator, racing grey alligator, red alligator, white alligator, all-white alligator, black and white lined rubber, white-lined rubber, black and red lined rubber (you get the point).
On the wrist, the Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari sits tightly with the rubber strap, but of course, the uniquely-designed case with its large dimensions sits differently than most watches. This means those with tiny wrists may find it a little uncomfortable due to the size and weight. It does seem to be bigger than it is, but what else would you look for with a timepiece singularly meant to be larger than life.
Price
The Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari All-Black is furnished by a black rubber strap with a unique deployment buckle in black PVD titanium; 50 limited pieces worldwide and sells from £120,000 (preowned) and around £230,000 new for the MP-05 Titanium Yellow model.
The Gold edition is limited too, and it can be purchased for around £340,000. The Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari Sapphire is a limited edition of 20 pieces which sells at the upper end for around it sells for £470,000. The piece de la resistance is the MP-05 LaFerrari Global Limited 1 with a transparent sapphire case and all gold dial, this is very rare and is said to retail for around £950,000.