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LONDON, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hublot continues its partnership with SORAI – Save Our Rhinos Africa and India – the rhino conservation organisation founded by former international cricketer and Hublot ambassador Kevin Pietersen. Hublot is United for Change, believing that the impact of the collective is essential in bringing the change that will conserve and protect our planet for future generations. The rhino is still threatened with extinction, impacting the stability of the 5 keystone species that play a crucial role in the safekeeping of our ecosystem and environment. Hublot introduces the Spirit of Big Bang SORAI, a 30-piece limited-edition of the iconic tonneau-shaped hand-wound tourbillon created in support of SORAI's mission. This is the fourth Hublot x SORAI watch and as before, part of the proceeds from sales of the watch will be donated to the organisation as it continues the fight to protect the rhino.
Even though the tireless activities of SORAI and its partners have significantly increased awareness of the threat to the rhino and made a powerful contribution to the preservation of the species, the crisis continues. According to the WWF, half a million rhinos roamed Africa and Asia at the beginning of the 20th century, a figure that has now dropped to just 27,000 as the dual problems of poaching and habitat loss continue to pose an existential threat to rhino and other keystone wildlife species. The black, Javan, and Sumatran rhino are all listed as critically endangered.
But by being United for Change, there is good news. Conservation programmes such as those supported by SORAI have helped increase the population of Indian rhinos from around 200 at the turn of the 20th century to around 4,000 today, while black rhinos have doubled in number over the past two decades. Hublot is proud to support SORAI as it empowers conservation agencies to continue this work and bring positive change.
SORAI is a socially conscious enterprise founded in 2018 by former England cricket captain and conservationist Kevin Pietersen, who was born in South Africa and grew up with a passion for the natural world. SORAI's mission is to unite complementary communities, businesses and actors to ensure that Africa and India's keystone species survive and thrive in the world – forever.
Among the many organisations and projects funded by SORAI is Care for Wild in South Africa, a grassroots organisation that rescues and cares for abandoned, injured or orphaned endangered species, particularly rhino. Rhino are poached for the value of their horn, which in some countries is still believed to have medicinal or spiritual value, despite being made of keratin, a protein that also forms the basis of our hair and nails. Poaching is a highly complex problem fuelled by poverty and the international criminal network, and much of SORAI's vision is to support pioneering anti-poaching education and enforcement programmes. These are problems for which there is no quick fix, but SORAI is in it for the long haul, enabled by the support of businesses such as Hublot.
The Hublot Spirit of Big Bang SORAI is the fourth watch created in support of SORAI, and the first Spirit of Big Bang. Its 42mm case is cast in the same micro-blasted and polished "warm grey" ceramic created by Hublot for SORAI to capture the distinctive colour of a rhino's skin and first seen in the Big Bang Unico SORAI 2023. The watch is set on a grey fabric strap and supplied with a second strap in black rubber with a striking grey and beige camouflage pattern. Powering the watch is the HUB6020 Manufacture calibre, a hand-wound, skeletonised tourbillon with a five-day power reserve. It provides the watch with an asymmetrical display that sits poised between two sapphire crystals and that delicately balances a time display at 3 o'clock and a power reserve indicator between 8 and 9 o'clock. The Spirit of Big Bang SORAI will be limited to 30 pieces.
Hublot's ambition is to leverage its global reach and this new watch to ignite critical conversations around the rhino and environmental issues, and to inspire a new generation of conservationists. By being United for Change and harnessing the impact of the collective, Hublot believes that together we can forge a path to a better future.
