Hublot King Power Oceanographic 4000 Carbon Review

ED209 provides a comprehensive review of the Hublot King Power Oceanographic 4000, focusing on the carbon fiber version. His detailed post covers the watch's massive specifications, including its 48mm case, 6.5mm thick sapphire crystal, and 4000-meter water resistance. The review highlights key dive watch features like the internal rotating flange, dual crowns, and helium escape valve, offering a thorough examination for collectors interested in extreme dive timepieces.

I first handled the Hublot King Power Oceanographic 4000 during an event in Las Vegas right before IGOTT2 last year.  I'm a huge fan of carbon fiber and really like the visual impact of the carbon fiber patterns on just about everything: including cars, guns, mountain bikes and watches.  So recently I had another chance to look at the King Power 4000 Carbon version again and wanted to share a few pics and video of the watch. 

The Hublot King Power Oceanographic 4000 is available in a limited edition of 500 pieces for the version in carbon fiber and 1000 pieces in grade 2 titanium.  On the cabon fiber version, both the case and bezel are made of carbon fiber and accented with 6 'H' shaped black PVD coated titanium screws.  Caseback is a micro-sandblasted polished titanium with that is also black colored PVD coated. 

Both are massive watches with a 48mm diameter case.  Actually all the specifications of this watch is massive including the 6.5mm thick synthetic sapphire crystal so that it ensures watertightness under extreme underwater pressure. 

The name of the watch signifies that Hublot's watchmakers and engineers had developed a watch to be resistant to the pressure exerted at a record 4000 meters deep.  According to HIHS standards, testing was done down to 5000 meters deep.  At these extreme depths, legibility is essential.  The requirement that the Hublot King Power 4000 was to be legible from a distance of 25cm in the dark.  So Hublot placed large hour markers, inner bezel and hands treated with SuperLuminova in a green tinted color in the titanium version.

Since this is a diver's watch, Hublot integrated an internal rotating flange that is rack-driven and unidirectional for a dive time indicator.  The inner flange has five minute periods marked and dot and stick shaped minute markers which are also treated with SuperLuminova.  The crown that controls this flange for the dive time is located at the 2 o'clock position. 

There is a second crown located at the 4 o'clock position that is used for winding and setting of the time and date.

Lastly, as with almost all diver's watches, the Hublot King Power Oceanographic 4000 has a helium valve which allows gases to escape during an ascent.  The valve is made of stainless steel and fitted at the 10 o'clock position of the case. 

Movement is the Hublot HUB1401 automatic winding movement with 23 jewels and a 42 hour power reserve.  It consists of 180 parts and has a beryllium allow balance wheel escapement ring.

In 2012 Hublot partnered with Team Alinghi to make another special edition that is based on this same King Power Oceanographic 4000 but with red accents and a black colored  Nomex strap with red stitching.

Included with the watch are two straps that are nicknamd 'town' and 'diver'.  The 'town' strap is made of rubber, while the 'diver' strap is a blend of nylon and rubber.  The 'diver' strap is much longer than usual because of the possible scenario where the watch is worn over a diving suit. 

One very interesting and novel feature is the design of the way these two straps are attached to the case.  There is a small push button (with a raised triangle logo) that you can simply push in and pull out the strap.  This allows the strap to be easily changed without screwdrivers and any other tools.  Just press in and pull out the strap.

 Here's a pic of the rubber strap, it has a metal insert that is used for attaching it to the case.  It's a great design.  I wonder if Hublot is going to offer different color rubber straps?