The brand launched Big Bang MECA-10 Aspen One at Snow League.
The weather might feel spring-like but in Aspen, winter was still king. Over the weekend The Snow League kicked off at the ski resort’s Buttermilk Mountain. Launched in June 2024 by Shaun White, The Snow League marks the first professional winter sports league dedicated to snowboarding and freeskiing. White, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, recruited the world’s best athletes for a head-to-head tournament-style competition. Slated to take place over the course of the next year, subsequent locations include China’s Yunding Secret Garden, a return to Aspen, with the grand finale (following a short break for the Winter Olympics) at Switzerland’s famous LAAX halfpipe. It’s an ambitious step in snowsports with equally big sponsors who are willing to take part in the historic contest. One brand all in? Hublot, the official watch and timekeeper of the competition. Besides offering up timepieces to the top scorers, they also used this moment to launch their latest design: the Big Bang MECA-10 Aspen One.
Made in conjunction with Aspen One, the parent company behind the ski area as well as major hotels in the town, the release of the Big Bang MECA-10 Aspen One marks their third collaborative timepiece over the course of six years. Given that fusing local details with technical knowhow and craftsmanship is core to Hublot’s brand DNA, the watch is the best of both worlds. A stark black and white ceramic design nods to the stark winter landscape while the signature Aspen logo can be found at the twelve o’clock position. Originally designed by Herbert Bayer, a Bauhaus proponent, the simple leaf doesn’t just represent the aspen trees that populate the mountains but has also become synonymous with the ski town. You’ll also find high-shine titanium elements that honor the area’s silver mining roots.
Internally a MECA-10 movement powers the timepiece. The skeletonized architecture draws from industrial-inspired design and features a 10-day power reserve powered by dual mainspring barrels. To see how much energy is left, there’s a distinctive rack-and-pinion power reserve indicator with a red marker. Finally for those who like to mix it up with their watch, it comes with both a sleek white calf leather strap as well as a black-line rubber one.
For the big event White wore the limited edition Big Bang MECA-10 Aspen One while the top scoring snowboarders from both the men’s and women’s contests were given classic Fusion Racing Grey watches at the after party. Held at Snow Lodge, South Korea’s Gaon Choi and Japan’s Yuto Totsuka were all smiles when presented with their timepieces. But that’s not their only prize as Choi garnered $10,000 for her third place finish and Totsuka earned $50,000 for his win. And that’s what makes Snow League unique — winners, regardless of gender, make the same amount of money, a rarity in professional sports. There are also appearance fees doled out to the 36 riders who competed in the first event, something unheard of in the sport. It’s disruptive, unexpected, and progressive. And for Hublot, that sounds exactly like their brand ethos.
Shaun White, Gaon Choi, Yuto Totsuka
