HUBLOT

1980: Carlo Crocco launched Hublot.
Hublot’s first launch broke new ground in watchmaking when it paired gold, a precious metal, with rubber. The bezel took the distinctive shape of a ship’s porthole: hublot in French. In 2004 Jean-Claude Biver was appointed CEO of the brand. This larger-than-life figure took the original concept of combining materials even further as “The Art of Fusion”. Big Bang, the brand’s flagship collection, took its cue from the Hublot watch launched in 1980. It immediately went on to claim the Best Design prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. Soon after it was joined by the King Power collection and, later, the Classic Fusion range, driven by extra-thin, UNICO in-house movements. In 2006 the brand launched its Big Bang All Black, and with it introduced the innovative concept of an all-black watch. Just as sensational were the One Million $ watches: fully paved with white or black diamonds, they cost exactly that. The brand has continued to invest in research and development, with Matthias Buttet at the head of its R&D division. It also joined forces with Lausanne Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) to develop a new alloy of 24k gold and ceramic (boron carbide) that has a hardness of almost 1,000 Vickers. This “Magic Gold” was revealed to the public at end 2011, which was also the year Hublot paid tribute to the Antikythera mechanism, an Ancient Greek cosmograph which the brand miniaturised to fit inside a wristwatch.

Hublot is a major investor in marketing. In 2010 it became the Official Watch of FIFA, Official Timekeeper for the next two football World Cups, and the Official Watchmaker of Formula 1. In 2012 the brand became the watchmaking partner of Ferrari in an agreement that covers all the activities of Ferrari and Hublot in terms of both brand image and the two companies’ commercial activities. Each year, Hublot releases one or two Ferrari special series, and is present at every Ferrari event worldwide.

After almost 30 years as an independent brand, in 2008 Hublot was taken over by LVMH. This marked the beginning of vertical integration, with the opening of a new production site in Nyon, Switzerland, that has been progressively extended over the years. It has given Hublot the capacity to manufacture its own chronograph movement with an integrated column wheel on the dial side, known as UNICO. Hublot also has its own Grandes Complications division, having absorbed some 30 watchmakers, prototypists, electroplaters and engineers from former supplier BNB Concept.