I love watches with rainbow-set gemstones. They have a sense of fun and joie de vivre that is hard to explain, one that is such a contrast with their precious nature.

Granted, the fact that beautiful minerals are used is an important factor for me. I both love the additional craftsmanship required – mining, cutting, polishing, and setting the stones – and how it highlights the natural beauty and diversity of Mother Nature. Leave it to Hublot to convince me that watches with a rainbow-colored pattern instead of gemstones can be equally enticing: the new MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve shows its true colors in a very high-tech way.

Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon

Extraordinarily out of the ordinary

The MP-09 has always been an extraordinary watch, even within the Hublot universe. It launched at Baselworld 2017 as the first multi-axis tourbillon of the brand. A complex sapphire crystal highlights the tourbillon, one of the many cool features of this watch, and it features a case unlike that of any other Hublot.

Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon

Even without the technical complexity of the movement, these are aspects of the MP-09 that already lend it a wow factor. Add to this the off-center “dial” for hours and minutes, the two arcs displaying the date, and the power-reserve indicator going all the way up to five days flanking them.

Hublot does cool things with cases and movements, but also with materials, and 3D Carbon is a great example of this. This is also the reason why the brand can even make a watch like the MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow. Hublot “braids” the case out of carbon fiber, laying tiny bars of this material millimeters apart to create a mesh that allows colored vertical bars of epoxy resin to be inserted before being fused together as one.

Case detail of the Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon

Herein also lies the difficulty of this watch as the resin has to be made in a multitude of different colors to get the gradient rainbow effect. It also requires a human eye and hand to insert each carbon rod individually into the mesh to achieve the correct effect.

Cool colors

Hublot has released the MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve before in green, yellow, blue, and red, but to see a version with all these different colors exponentially increases the cool factor. All the more because Hublot makes the 3D Carbon as a block, which it then mills into the right shape.

Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon from its substantial side

At the sides of the case and bezel you can see more of the colored bars, highlighting the unusual nature of the 3D Carbon. It gives the MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve a high-tech look but with a fun edge like it could be out of a science fiction movie by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element or Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets for example). The rainbow-colored alligator strap underscores this, as do the various hues of the hour markers.

Colorful strap and buckle of the Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon

All combined, the MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon is an excellent example of Hublot doing what it does best: developing a mouthwatering movement, wrapping it in an innovative material, adding a sophisticated design, and presenting it all together as a watch that challenges the status quo as a conversation piece.

Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon

Mission accomplished as I now not only dream of gem-set rainbow watches, but those in 3D carbon as well.

For more information, please visit www.hublot.com/en-us/news/mp-09-tourbillon-bi-axis-5-day-power-reserve-hublots-rainbow-shines-miami.

Quick Facts Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis 5-Day Power Reserve Rainbow 3D Carbon
Case: 49 x 17.95 mm, matte rainbow 3D carbon
Movement: manual winding Caliber HUB9009.H1.RA.B with bi-axial tourbillon (one minute/30 seconds), 120-hour power reserve, 3 Hz / 21,600 vph frequency
Functions: hours, minutes; date; power reserve
Limitation: 8 pieces
Price: €220,000 / CHF 200,000 / $211,000

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