Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Kylian Mbappé spotted wearing Hublot

Kylian Mbappé was spotted earlier this year watching NBA action in Brooklyn, and as is increasingly the case with the Paris Saint-Germain and France national team striker, the watch on his wrist told its own story. On this occasion it was the Hublot Big Bang 41mm in stainless steel, reference 341.SX.7170.LR.1204 — a model that sits at the intersection of athletic identity and dressed-up horological theatre.

The Big Bang line was introduced by Hublot in 2005 under CEO Jean-Claude Biver as a deliberate fusion concept, combining a rubber strap with a precious-metal or steel case in a way that was genuinely novel at the time. The 41mm format of the 341.SX.7170.LR.1204 is the mid-size expression of the family — large enough to read as a statement piece, measured enough to avoid the excesses of the 45mm variants. The blue chronograph dial is clean and layered, with a skeletonised architecture that reveals movement architecture beneath applied indices. The 36-diamond bezel in brilliant cut adds approximately 0.51 carats of stones around the polished steel case, elevating the reference from pure sport watch into something more deliberately luxurious.

Powering the case is the HUB4100, a self-winding column-wheel chronograph movement with a lateral clutch, 44-hour power reserve, and a 28,800 vph beat rate. It is an in-house calibre in the truest sense — developed and produced at Hublot's Nyon manufacture — and it gives the Big Bang a technical credibility that early critics of the brand's aesthetics were sometimes too quick to dismiss.

Mbappé has been a Hublot brand ambassador since 2020, when he signed with the Swiss manufacture at the age of 21. The relationship is a natural fit: Hublot has built its identity around football and high-performance sport since the mid-2000s, and Mbappé is among the most globally visible athletes in any discipline. A courtside appearance in New York, wearing a piece that bridges diamonds and rubber, is entirely on-brand for both parties.

At a retail price of $19,500 USD, the Hublot Big Bang 41mm ref. 341.SX.7170.LR.1204 occupies the mid-tier of the Big Bang catalogue. Grey market pricing for comparable diamond-bezel steel Big Bang references tends to sit at a modest discount to retail, reflecting healthy but not explosive secondary demand — consistent with Hublot's broad production volumes and strong new-customer pipeline.