LVMH Watch Week: Introducing the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium from Hublot

The MP line by Hublot is meant to represent the fusion between revolutionary movements and spectacular designs. It’s such an exclusive collection that up until today, there were only two pieces in the family: the MP-13 Tourbillon Bi-Axis Retrograde and the MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire.

Now a third timepiece joins the MP team, and good golly, is it a doozy!

Introduced at LVMH Watch Week in Miami, the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium has reinvented not just the way a tourbillon displays the time but also how an automatic movement winds.

So, buckle up! Things are about to get complicated (in a good way).

So, what exactly is happening with the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium?

“I gave our designers and watchmakers carte blanche, and this is the fruit of their labors. From now on, people will talk about the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium in terms of ‘before’ and ‘after,’” Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe explained in a press release for the MP-10.

What does this creative freedom look like? First of all, there are no hands.
 

Instead, the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium employs a series of constantly rotating displays: the hours and minutes (combined with an invisible magnifying glass so that it is easier to read) are in the upper third of the face; the tourbillon cage is used to indicate the seconds is in the lower third of the face; and the circular power reserve with its easy to read green and red zones is between them.
 

Of course, by now, it could probably go without saying, but the piece has no dial. That is because its unique display is constructed from monobloc aluminum, then suspended and inclined, which means the face is the movement. This sculptural, avant-garde design is made to convey volume and depth while also eliminating traditional space constraints (which are usually caused by the placement of a central display on a horizontal plane).
 

And although it sounds complicated, upon inspection, reading the time from top to bottom is quite intuitive. The indicators also all share the same white lacquer typography on black aluminum rollers with one red triangular marker per display pointing to the current time.

We don’t know which came first: The architectural aesthetic of the ground-breaking automatic movement or this game-changing new tourbillion.

Again, this calibre, which contains 592 components, has no oscillating weight but rather a tourbillon inclined at 35° with automatic winding by two linear weights. What does that mean? Well, since its design was incompatible with the use of an oscillating weight, engineers at Hublot retained the weight principle by making it vertical.
 

Hence, the two moving blocks of white gold set on a vertical axis on either side of the central structure (but to prevent these blocks from colliding with the banking, Hublot also developed a system of shock absorbers).

These two vertical weights engage a rack and can wind the movement bidirectionally – this exclusive, patent-pending technology gives the MP-10 a 48-hour plus power reserve. The watch is wound manually via the crown at 12 o’clock, while the time is set using a second crown set into the case-back side for a streamlined silhouette.
 

To further emphasize the fluid shape of the MP-10 Tourbillon Weight Energy System Titanium, all of this ingenuity is housed in a two-piece, 54.1 by 41.5 by 22.4mm case done in a shiny micro-blasted titanium. The sapphire crystal is also complex, combining inclined planes on three axes that let you peer deep into the skeletonized timepiece. And while it’s a big watch, the lightweight titanium and its integrated rubber strap make it feel more refined on the wrist.