637 components, 50 days of Power Reserve and 11 barrels. This is, in a nutshell, a compilation of the most outstanding time-machine Hublot has ever conceived: the Hublot MP05 LaFerrari. With, in addition, a design that draws inspiration directly from the fastest and most technologically advanced road car Ferrari has ever built, the “La Ferrari”, a name that clearly claims this is the ultimate Ferrari.
The Hublot MP05 LaFerrari is a time-machine produced in just 50 units, launched in 2013, when the LaFerrari was unveiled to the general public which, this year, is being launched in a second limited edition 50 unit run (see picture for details), featuring an innovative architecture, made out of a case in the shape of a trapezoid that recalls, with its geometry, the transparent cover Ferrari adopts on its rear engine vehicles.
The LaFerrari 12 cylinder with hybrid module is here replaced by the Hublot MP05 LaFerrari's vertical designed mechanical caliber, manual wind, equipped with a suspended Tourbillon and 11 barrels ensuring a massive 50 days of power reserve. Time visualization is quite out of the ordinary as it showcases the Power Reserve indicator in the shape of two anodized blackened aluminum cylinders on the left hand side of the dial with yellow (which is the very first color the Prancing Horse has adopted) Super-Luminova™ accents and two others for hour and minutes on its right hand side.
The seconds counter is in the shape of a rotating coaxial disc with the Tourbillon device placed at 6 o' clock. The crown is placed underneath the back case which is transparent as it is the front and gives full view to the lower part of the movement and to its supporting strut. It is by the way engraved with the car official badge and the series number out of 50. The winding crown is instead coaxial to the barrels and placed at 12, protected by a titanium and carbon cover, two materials widely adopted on the LaFerrari.
Manual winding and hour settings are operated via an electric screwdriver supplied by Hublot that ideally reproduces those powerful screwdrivers the Ferrari mechanics use when changing a race car's tire. This testifies, once more, to the close relationship between Hublot and Ferrari, a collaboration that, as Jean-Claude Biver stated in 2012, is not just any co-branding agreement, as you may find many out there in the watchmaking industry, but is based on a technical partnership between two “manufactures” that share the same passion for product design and excellence.
As it is for example with the watch box, that clearly recalls the central dashboard of a Ferrari and is made of leather from Schedoni, a historical partner of Ferrari's internal trims and his Formula One's car seats. The Hublot MP05 LaFerrari's case is made of micro-blasted Titanium and is big but, due to its shape, is a bit hard to give it a size. We could, however, speak of its caliber's dimensions which measure a massive 45,8 x 39,5mm. Now that the challenge has moved from the tarmac to a enthusiast's wrist what can we expect from LaFerrari's direct competitors, the McLaren P1 and the Porsche 918 Spyder? Let's wait and see.
(Photo credit: courtesy of Hublot, Horbiter®'s proprietary photo-shooting)
Gaetano C. @Horbiter®
