Review: Hublot Big Bang e – The Smart, Smartwatch

The smartwatch market has risen from almost nothing five years ago to an estimated $20B in 2019.

Some watchmakers have shunned the market, preferring to stick to their knitting. Others like Hublot have embraced this mash-up of technology and design and are doing a very good job of it with timepieces like the Big Bang e.

I’ve dabbled in the smartwatch world a couple of times in the past and each time it has ended in tears. My everyday watch has been on my wrist for the last twenty years and rarely comes off given its robust Swiss engineering and 200m water resistance. It’s the water resistance (or lack thereof) where smartwatches in the past have failed me.

When I received the Hublot Bing Bang e water resistance was the first specification I checked. Thankfully 30m (3 ATM) water resistance would work perfectly for me. The other reason I knew the Big Bang e would be OK is that on the day I received it, I was heading for a farm in the New England region at around 1400m. Not a lot of random submersion likely up there.

As you would expect the Hublot Big Bang e is packaged to perfection. The box is a beautiful black which perfectly symbolises the combination of ceramic and rubber. Out of the box, the Big Bang e has a lovely weighted feel that’s just right. Another gripe of smartwatches in the past is that they were too light.

After a quick charge via the included Induction Charging pad, the Big Bang e sprang into life an I was eager to see how far the smartwatch had come.

The set-up process is wonderfully simple thanks to Wear OS by Google that is the operating system that powers the Big Bang e.

Immediately every useful feature of my Google account is literally at my fingertips – Google Pay, Google Assistant, Maps, and Google Fit. This is a huge step forward as my smartphone is an iPhone XS. In the past to get the most from Google-powered smartwatches, your smartphone needed to run Android to get the most from the experience. This is awesome!

Now it was time to select a watch face for the Big Bang e. The range is incredible and they all look amazing on the 327dpi AMOLED screen under the Sapphire Crystal glass. No impossible to read complications or Disney characters here I’m pleased to report.

I’ve chosen the Big Bang Green face.

Time to get out of the house and see what the Hublot Big Bang e is like to live with everyday.

First impressions are that the Big Bang e feels great to wear. The rubber strap and the ceramic and titanium clasp are super easy to use. The other thing I notice right away is the absence of rapid-fire haptic alerts that other smartwatches seem to enable by default.

My regular walk of the family dog allows me to test the Google Fit integration as well as ability to read the face of the Big Bang e in late afternoon sunlight.

The array of sensors on the Big Bang e are very impressive. We have a gyroscope, microphone, accelerometer, and a heart-rate monitor. In addition, we have a selection of technology to measure ambient light, vibrations and a feature I really like – the low latency off-body sensor that helps conserve energy.

A swipe of the screen and I have access to the watch face gallery and I select something easier to read in the fading light.

The rotating crown of the Big Bang e is also covered in notched rubber to make it super easy to use with your fingertip and quickly scroll through alerts and messages that arrive via Bluetooth from my iPhone or via the built-in WLAN 2.4 GHz 802.11 B/G/N connectivity.

A few laps of the oval and we start to see some of the Google Fit data flowing through to the very clear and easy to read visualisations. There’s also a great feature in the Google Wear app that breaks down the battery usage by feature.

The following morning we’re in the car and heading out of Sydney. Another swipe of the screen and we choose another watch face for the drive. At a petrol station on the outskirts of Newcastle we use the built-in NFC chip and Google Pay to purchase some fuel and supplies for the final stage of the trip.

As I’ve said before, I’m tough on my timepieces and a trip to the farm is for work, not play. We head out in the side-by-side buggy and the Hublot Big Bang e is the perfect companion.

I want to track our path through a heavily wooded area. A quick voice command to Google Assistant and our path is precisely tracked without having to take my hands off the wheel as we traverse a very rocky path.

A very dusty run back to the house and the Big Bang e is in need of a shower (as am I). The 3 ATM water resistance comes in handy and we both emerge clean and refreshed.

After dinner and well after dark we head back out to check on some of the cattle who are unsettled. Whilst tending the cattle I make use of the Flashlight feature on the Big Bang e which provides an astonishingly bright light from the AMOLED screen. Super handy!

Other built-in Hublot features include a Chronometer and a Countdown Timer. There are over thirty interchangeable rubber and leather straps available in a variety of colours.

The impeccable Hublot build quality is highly evident with the Big Bang e. The watch is robust and handsome in the same breath.

Wear OS by Google is the beating heart of the Big Bang e and its this combination of high-precision engineering and bullet-proof software that makes the Hublot Big Bang e an everyday smartwatch if you’re looking for a blend of good looks and powerful connectivity.

Available from Hublot from $8,100.