Hublot Classic Fusion Aero Chronograph – 525.NX.0170.LR

Skeletonised dials come in and out of fashion—but to do them well, you have to get that they're more than just a passing fad for seeing the workings of a luxury watch laid bare. The Hublot Classic Fusion Aero Chronograph succeeds where many have failed: to understand why, it's a good idea to start by looking at the concept of skeletonisation, why people like it, and what it can mean for the watch as a whole.
To skeletonise a dial, you need to take away some or all of its 'flesh” (the face you would normally see on your luxury watch) and reveal the bones of the movement, ticking beneath the surface. The movement itself is also peeled back, with non-functional sections of metal left out to show as much of the inner working as possible. The result is a chronological achievement of staggering complexity, and quite often stunning beauty.
The purpose, in high-end watches, is to show off all that craft. Given that the calibres created by brands like Hublot are works of art in their own right, it's easy to understand why the makers would want to show them off, and why the owners of their timepieces would want to see them.
Nothing says 'luxury watch' more clearly than a skeletonised dial. Skeletonisation, by leaving nothing hidden, is a highly visible symbol of the superior quality of a high-end timepiece. It's a quick and easy way to point out just how much attention to detail goes into creating not just the normally visible elements of a watch, but the elements that make it work.
In other words: haute horlogerie is all about an obsession with the sheer difficulty of making a tiny machine capable of accurately tracking hours, minutes, days, months, even centuries and millennia, using nothing but cogs, wheels, and springs. And showing the workings of such a machine, in all their incredible complexity (individual elements of high-end movements are often hand-finished, in processes that can take days), is the ultimate statement of purpose.
It's interesting, then, that Hublot has managed to make a luxury watch that looks less overbearing when it's skeletonised. To be fair, this isn't a function of the skeletonisation alone. The Hublot Classic Fusion Aero Chronograph 525.NX.0170.LR is a watch that takes the impact of a Big Bang and blends it with the less powerful lines of a Classic Fusion. The result: a timepiece that has sophisticated lines and sits quite dressily on the wrist (if you like a touch of power in your dress watches, that is), but which also has the visual bite of the skeletonised Aero Bang. This is the kind of watch you could easily imagine James Bond wearing at an Embassy function. And you could also picture Tom Hiddleston or Idris Elba wearing it to an awards dinner.
The thing about a skeletonised dial, though, is that it isn't usually very easy to read the time on one. That's not the case with the Classic Fusion Aero Chronograph, which makes a very busy face look quite legible. This is done by superposing large, dark hour and minute hands over a skeletonised movement that has a clear depth to it. Hour markers are polished, rhodium-plated indices, making them quite easy to see.
The movement is Hublot's HUB 1155 self-winding skeleton chrono. The pushpieces are in polished titanium, which contrasts spectacularly with the vertical satination of the titanium bezel. The case is also in polished titanium, with satinated accents between the lugs. This blend of finishes carries the depth of the dial texture nicely out into the body of the watch, and makes for a timepiece that changes its appearance as it passes under different intensities of light. At that award dinner (or high-end spy assignation), it will gleam warmly as it creates a strong line between cuff and hand.
The crystal and caseback are both sapphire. Don't expect to see any skeletonisation on the rear of the movement, though. The Hublot rotor dominates the back of the watch.
The Hublot Classic Fusion Aero Chronograph 525.NX.0170.LR is supplied on an interesting strap, which is actually a pretty good shorthand for the feel of the design as a whole. Alligator leather on the outside, the black strap is backed in sporty rubber. Not only does this make the watch less prone to slipping in a sporting environment (in which the chrono function is more likely to be used)—it also reminds the wearer that the Classic Fusion Aero chrono is a beast of two domains. Dressy on the outside, sporty and powerful on the inside, it's like Usain Bolt in an expensive suit.
The folding Hublot clasp is in titanium. The case is 45 mm, and is water resistant to 50 m, making this a chrono you don't really want to get wet. But that's a minor quibble. Who'd wear a £10k watch in a swimming pool anyway?
You can view our latest Hublot watches as well as the newest additions to our collection of luxury watches currently in stock here .
Image Credit – officialwatches.com vedere di piu orologi replica e Rolex Day Date