Big Bang e Gen 3 Titanium

1. Business Context & Objective

With the Big Bang e Gen 3 Titanium, Swiss manufacture Hublot introduced the third generation of its connected timepiece, housed in a 44 mm microblasted and polished titanium case faithful to the iconic Big Bang collection. To support its release, the brand needed a product film capable of fulfilling two simultaneous goals: showcasing the watchmaking craftsmanship of the case and interchangeable One Click straps, and clearly explaining to viewers how its various digital interfaces work (exclusive dials, chronograph, world timer, power reserve, and notifications).

Entrusted to Alt-Studio on a 4-week cycle, this production had to deliver an effective marketing asset for e-commerce, social media, and in-store displays, striking the right balance between watchmaking aesthetics and tech demonstration.

2. Art Direction & Technical Challenge

Unlike a mechanical watch where everything happens inside a physical caliber, the Big Bang e Gen 3 presented a very specific dual technical and narrative challenge:

1. Faithfully recreating interfaces that were unusable at the source: the native files of the smartwatch's operating system were stored in embedded proprietary software formats that could not be exported or used by our 3D artists and motion designers. We therefore had to rebuild from scratch — pixel by pixel and frame by frame — every single screen, typeface, counter, and transition animation so they could be mapped in ultra-high definition onto the 3D dial.
2. Combining didactic feature presentation with dynamic video pacing: demonstrating multiple digital menus and complications in a row can quickly make a product video feel repetitive or overly instructional. Our art direction and editing choreographed the camera moves, colorful strap swaps, and screen transitions so that explaining the features remains fluid, legible, and energetic from start to finish.

3. Deployed Pipeline (3D CGI / Motion / Hybrid AI)

To run watchmaking 3D and screen reconstruction in parallel over 4 weeks, our team deployed a pipeline combining Maya, Substance Painter, After Effects, Redshift Render, and Nuke:

1. CAD Preparation & Case Lookdev (Maya, Substance Painter & Redshift): cleaning the CAD model of the Big Bang e Gen 3 and authoring shaders and texture maps in Substance Painter and Redshift Render to accurately reproduce brushed titanium, polished bevels, H-shaped screws, sapphire crystal, and textured rubber straps across multiple colorways.
2. Vector Reconstruction & UI Animation (Motion Design): our motion designers redrew every dial and system animation in 4K inside After Effects, faithfully matching the easing curves and ergonomics of the physical watch.
3. 3D Integration & Compositing (Redshift & Nuke): synchronizing the animated UI sequences with the 3D camera layout and performing multipass assembly in Nuke to guarantee crisp readability of the on-screen information regardless of specular reflections on the case.

4. Production Cadence & Methodology

Executed in Brand & Product Motion Mode over 4 weeks, the production advanced in parallel across the 3D and Motion UI tracks:

• Week 1 (Camera Layout, Previz & UI Audit): writing the edit structure pacing the feature demonstrations, building the 3D previz, and cataloging every screen to be rebuilt.
• Week 2 (Motion UI Reconstruction & Titanium Lookdev): vector recreation and animation of the watch interfaces in parallel with Redshift shader approval on the titanium case and straps.
• Week 3 (Sequence Animation & Lighting): locking the exact timing between watch rotations and screen transitions, alongside shot-by-shot lighting passes.
• Week 4 (Redshift Rendering, Nuke Compositing & Final Polish): high-definition rendering, compositing, and integration of final client adjustments right up to delivery.

5. Delivered Formats & Adaptations

At the end of the 4 weeks, Hublot received a complete suite of broadcast-ready assets:

• Master Product Film (16:9 and vertical 9:16 / 1:1 adaptations) showcasing the titanium design, the strap system, and the digital interface features.
• High-definition visuals and loops isolating the different dials and strap colorways for e-commerce product pages and social media.
• Library of rebuilt UI screens and modular 3D scene, enabling easy visual updates for future smartwatch software releases.