At Baselworld, the international watch convention which runs from March 22nd to 27th, luxury watchmaker Hublot has unveiled their first AndroidWear OS watch, the Big Bang Referee, in time for the 2018 Football World Cup.
Hublot is the official timekeeper of the 2018 Football World Cup, which will take place in Russia, starting in June. The Big Bang Referee is heavily influenced by the World Cup, with specialised software being pre-loaded on it to help you keep track of the goings on at one of the biggest sports event in the world – that is, if you can afford it.
The watch will cost over $5,000USD and it will be hard to get your hands on one with only 2,018 being produced, some of which will be used by the referees at the World Cup.
The price tag nets you a pretty good looking watch though, with a 49mm Titanium case held together with 6 H-shaped screws and a kevlar inset. Underneath it’s pretty standard hardware with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z34XX processor and 512MB of RAM powering it. You get a 400 x 400 resolution AMOLED display that’s 35.4mm across.
According to Hublot, the watch will have several software features tied to the World Cup:
the Big Bang Referee 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ announces matches 15 minutes before their kick-off, as well as yellow and red cards, player changes and goals. The Big Bang Referee 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ vibrates, displaying the word GOAL instantly every time a goal is scored. During the match, the dial shows the match statistics including the score, number of cards, names of goal-scorers, player substitutions and match time.
The watches will be able to be personalised to your favourite world cup teams colours with 32 dials based on each team competing and a sponge sport strap, with HUBLOT logo + 2018 FIFA World Cup emblem included in your teams colour. Yep, it can be all Aussie!
Hublot says the Big Bang Referee will go on-sale all over the world on May 1st, so start saving your pennies.
Good lord that’s ugly.