Hublot Big Bang Unico SORAI

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Hublot Big Bang Unico SORAI

Big Bang
Unico SORAI
News

Time for rhinos
La Cote des Montres - January 19th, 2023

In the battle against extinction,
time is everything and every second counts.

Hublot has been supporting SORAI – Save Our Rhino Africa India – since 2019. An organisation founded by Hublot ambassador and former international cricket star Kevin Pietersen. His work helps keep rhinos threatened with extinction safe from poachers. As with the two previous limited editions, part of the proceeds from the sale of the 100 Big Bang Unico SORAI will be donated to the organisation. The colours chosen for the third limited edition are those of sunset, recalling the heightened danger faced by rhinos as night falls. Here, the sun is a symbol of hope, of a new dawn.

“ If purchasing a watch can buy time, then it is a small gesture with huge implications. Saving the rhino is an urgent matter for both the planet and future generations. When brand ambassador and former international cricketer Kevin Pietersen launched SORAI in 2018, we felt it was entirely natural to join forces with him in his race against time to beat the poachers. We have used our limited editions to help him gain access to more state-of-the-art technologies on the ground, put together more surveillance teams, as well as rescue injured or orphaned rhinos, with the single shared aim of shielding this endangered species.”

Ricardo Guadalupe, CEO of Hublot

A watch made
to support rhinos

Because the rhino’s only predators are humans.
Because every day, every minute and every second counts.
Because each Big Bang Unico SORAI will buy time for endangered rhinos.
Because, on the ground, we need to be faster than the poachers.
Because poaching is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and risks for species extinction, second only to the destruction of natural habitats.

One of the “BIG FIVE” and the second largest mammal after the elephant, the rhino has seen its numbers drop by 90% over the last ten years. On average, three wild rhinos are killed every day, leaving fewer than 30,000 rhinos currently alive across the world. And while trade in rhino horn has been banned internationally since 1977 by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), poachers continue to hunt and kill rhinos for their horns, whose price is worth more per kilo than gold.

Since 2018, SORAI has supported projects to protect endangered animals, identify new technologies to combat poaching (thermal cameras, GPS tracking of animals) and raise awareness of the need to protect these endangered species. In line with its motto, “BE THE CHANGE”, SORAI is pushing change and working to prevent poaching and hunting. There are many ways to combat poaching (raising public awareness, education, law enforcement, transmitters for tracking animals, increasing ranger numbers and creating sanctuaries for injured or orphaned animals). However, prevention and active rangers on the ground remain the most effective tools.

Proceeds from the sale of the Big Bang Unico SORAI will go directly to projects supported by SORAI to equip helicopters with cameras, raise awareness in schools about the consequences of poaching and to provide backup to rangers on the ground. These strategies are implemented where the need is biggest and most pressing: South Africa. South Africa is home to more than 80% of the world’s total population of rhinos, with the majority of poaching taking place in Kruger National Park, as it has the largest population of wild white rhinos left on earth.

“Our actions on the ground (surveillance teams and equipment to prevent poaching, rhino sanctuaries and refuges) are vital. However, in order to act, we first need to raise public awareness, increase publicity and make this a visible cause. Hublot is helping us on the ground by donating proceeds from the sale of the Big Bang Unico SORAI and by lending the brand’s voice to our cause to bring it to global attention. In the three years since we began this joint venture, it has yielded concrete results.”

Kevin Pietersen, founder of SORAI, Hublot ambassador
former international cricketer

Big Bang
Unico Sorai

Sculpted from polished and microblasted rhino-grey ceramic specially developed for this limited edition, the Big Bang Unico SORAI features an openworked dial featuring the glowing colours of sunset when the sky catches fire. It is at nightfall that poachers swing into action, cloaked in darkness and more difficult to track. The colours of daybreak: yellow, orange, purple and pink represent the hope brought by dawn, of a new day and a chance at change. Inside the 44 mm diameter case of the Big Bang Unico SORAI, beats the Unico self-winding Manufacture movement with a 72-hour power reserve. Thanks to the patented One Click interchangeable strap system, the Big Bang Unico SORAI can be worn with a grey fabric and Velcro version or a black, purple and orange camouflage design reflecting the hues of sunset and sunrise.

Aeria shot

of SANParks Air Services Helicopter in Kruger Natioal Park

Kevin Pietersen

in Kruger National Park

Kevin Pietersen with staff and children at Skukuza Primary School Kruger National Park

KNP Ranger
K9 unit

Tracking poachers

Rescued orphaned white rhino at the Rhino Bomas in KNP

About SORAI

SORAI, Be the Change.

SORAI is a socially conscious enterprise that collaborates with the world’s most progressive brands and their audiences to support the conservation of key endangered species. In short, our Purpose is that we exist to bring people and business together to ensure that Africa & India’s keystone species survive and thrive in the wild. Forever

Founded in 2018 by former international cricketer and conservationist Kevin Pietersen, SORAI has supported grassroots organisations that rescue abandoned, injured, and orphaned endangered species and rehabilitate them where possible.

Alongside its network of global partners, SORAI is also committed to bringing attention to the plight of these animals through award-winning television and digital content.Together with our partners we work to connect with communities around the world to raise awareness of the importance of these animals and their value for future generations

The SORAI emblem is a symbol for change. It informs, it empowers, it unites people through conservation.

About Hublot

The “Art of Fusion”

Hublot is a Swiss watch manufacturer founded in 1980 and based in Nyon. For its first ever timepiece, this fundamentally disruptive company combined gold with a rubber strap in a case with a design inspired by a ship’s porthole (hublot in French). Thus, the Art of Fusion was born, blending tradition, innovation, craftsmanship, worlds and talents. It became the brand’s aesthetic and technical signature.

This identity was strengthened in 2005 with the Big Bang, which attested to an unrivalled know-how in terms of complications, manufacture movements and state-of-the-art materials. Carbon, titanium, ceramic and sapphire have been developed on this model to technical extremes.

This ground-breaking, high-quality approach to watchmaking is summed up in its philosophy “Be First, Unique and Different.” It gradually led to other collections with innovative designs: Classic Fusion, Spirit of Big Bang, Square Bang and Manufacture Pieces. These draw on high levels of craftsmanship, both in terms of the materials so dear to Hublot (such as Magic Gold, brightly-coloured ceramics and sapphires) and its manufacture movements (Unico chronograph, Meca-10 and large complications such as the Tourbillon, the Cathedral Minute Repeater and the specific Manufacture Pieces movements).

Hublot’s world extends to powerful partnerships including football. “Hublot Loves Football” as become the slogan at the world’s biggest sporting events (such as the FIFA World Cup™, Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA EURO™) and through its ambassadors. This love of football continues in art, design, music, sport, fine dining and sailing. Lastly, Hublot’s implication in joint environmental projects with SORAI and Polar Pod reflects its concern for the issues of the day. Almost 130 boutiques around the world share Hublot’s fervour and values, alongside the Hublot.com e-commerce site.