In 2011, Hublot launched the King Power UNICO GMT, a daring exploit that utilized four rotating satellites to display 24 timezones at once. While it was, beyond debate, an impressive movement, it proved to be — as with most GMT watches — a bit of a learning curve to comprehend and operate. However, in Geneva this year, the manufacture had launched the first Big Bang GMT, a watch that appears to be damning antithesis of the latter in the best possible way.

The ingenuity of this watch lies in a patented module integrated into the Hublot UNICO cal. HUB1251, which enables the second time zone to be updated instantly by a push-button, allowing the local time to be read easily via the conventional main hand of the watch. The two push-buttons at two and four o’clock, while reminiscent of a chronograph, are used to advance the local time forward and backward in one-hour increments respectively. They have been redesigned to ensure they can be distinguished, and more than that, their rectangularity have been drawn from the historic push-buttons of the first Big Bang models. There’s also a safety device that prevents the simultaneous activation of the two push buttons.

GMT time is set independently, which in turn means that one need not synchronize all of the hands with every change in time zone. A fourth hand, which is arrow-shaped, indicates the time at home using a 12-hour display instead of a 24-hour format, which is the norm. This would have been tricky if not for the day/night disc in the middle accented in contrasting gray and blue, so busy jetsetters can discern at an instant whether it is AM or PM. The alternating Arabic numeral hour markers not presented on the main dial are instead indexed on the bezel, which lends the piece a unique and distinct identity from the other Big Bangs. Aside from that, the watch maintains the signature profile of the Hublot Big Bang 45 UNICO, such as a skeletonized dial, hands and hour markers.

Available in titanium or carbon-fiber case, the watch’s exceptional high-functioning movement is built from 339 parts operating at 4Hz and offers a power reserve of 72 hours. Suffice it to say that when you’re armed to your teeth with a heavy schedule, the Hublot Big Bang UNICO GMT is the de-facto travel companion that will hit the ground running.

Hublot BIG BANG UNICO GMT

• Movement: HUB 1251, UNICO self-winding movement

• Case: 45mm diameter; satin-finished and polished titanium or carbon fibre

• Strap: Ribbed black and blue rubber