One of the Big Five, the rhinoceros is the second largest land mammal after the elephant. Over the last decade, its global population has declined by 90 percent. On average, three wild rhinos are killed every day.
Fewer than 30,000 remain alive worldwide. Trade in rhino horn has been banned internationally since 1977, but poachers continue killing for it because horn trades at a price per kilogram that exceeds gold. SORAI — Save Our Rhinos Africa India — was founded by former international cricketer and Hublot ambassador Kevin Pietersen in 2018.
Hublot joined forces with SORAI in 2019, and the two organisations have since used limited edition watches as the mechanism for funding anti-poaching operations, surveillance technology, ranger support, and sanctuaries for injured and orphaned animals. The third limited edition in the series, the Big Bang Unico SORAI, chooses the colours of sunset for its palette. This is a deliberate choice: nightfall is when poachers are most active, when the darkness provides cover and makes tracking harder.
The colours of dawn — yellow, orange, purple, and pink — represent the hope brought by each new day that the animals are still alive. The watch is sculpted from rhino-grey ceramic developed specifically for this edition and features an openworked dial in those sunset hues. Inside the 44mm case, the Unico self-winding manufacture movement runs with a 72-hour power reserve.
The interchangeable strap system allows the watch to be worn on a grey fabric Velcro version or a black, purple, and orange camouflage design. One hundred pieces will be made. Part of the proceeds from every sale goes directly to SORAI’s operations on the ground in South Africa, which hosts more than 80 percent of the world’s remaining wild rhinos.