Hublot presents the F1 King, official timepiece of Formula One

Noah Joseph — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:58:00 EST

Hublot F1 King - Click above for high-res image gallery

There's seemingly no limit to the extent of commercial partnerships taking place every day in the fast-paced world of Formula One racing. But while the teams, and sometimes even the races themselves, have been the beneficiaries of such consideration, the series itself has largely stayed out of it. That's all changing now, however, as Bernie Ecclestone is taking a page out of the NASCAR playbook in bringing aboard various commercial partners for the series. LG, for example, was one of the first, and now the series has announced a new partnership with Swiss watchmakers Hublot as the sport's official timekeeper.

Replacing the previous arrangement with Jacques LeMans, the Hublot deal promises to bring a series of specially-branded timepieces to market. And this is the first. Called the F1 King, it's the opposite of the kind of flashy, bling-tastic jewelry you might have associated with the series. Instead, as you can see from the image above, the F1 King is all decked out in matte black, from the microblasted ceramic bezel and PVD-coated titanium fittings to the tungsten-carbide and black chrome mechanical components inside.

Follow the jump for full details in the press release and browse the images from the announcement this past weekend in Bahrain.

Gallery: Hublot F1 King

[Source: Hublot]

Continue reading Hublot presents the F1 King, official timepiece of Formula One

Hublot presents the F1 King, official timepiece of Formula One originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Time for a Change: F1/Carbon GMT watch

Noah Joseph — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:29:00 EST

Filed under: Gadgets, Technology

We like drivers' watches here at Autoblog, but we have to admit they're all mostly the same. Watchmakers will differentiate their products by employing different materials like titanium, ceramics and carbon fiber, or by signing licensing agreements with various automakers, but by and large they all look the same. Of course, we only realized that when we had a look at the radically different F1/Carbon GMT concept watch (pictured above) from designer John Pszeniczny (a name which is surely easier to pronounce than it looks).

The innovative timepiece has a digital display (gasp!) that will show the time at any of the 18 race tracks on the 2008 Formula One calendar. Like an actual F1 car, it's constructed from carbon fiber, metal and rubber, but rather unlike an F1 car, is studded with rubies and Swarovski crystals. Also, like grand prix cars, the unique timepiece is extremely costly, with a reported retail price well into five figures, so you'd have to be an F1 driver or team owner to actually afford one.

[Source: Le Blog Auto]

Time for a Change: F1/Carbon GMT watch originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 03 May 2008 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments