Hublot
Encyclopedia
Hublot is a Swiss enterprise
creating luxury watches and founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco. The company currently operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of France's LVMH
.
of the Italian Binda Group
dynasty, best known for making Breil watches, Carlo Crocco left the company in 1976 to strike out on his own and create a new watch company. Moving to Switzerland he formed MDM Geneve and set about designing a watch that he named the Hublot after the French word for "porthole
". The watch that he created featured the first natural rubber strap in the history of watchmaking. It took 3 years of research to create the strap. Despite failing to attract a single potential customer on the first day of its debut at the 1980 Basel
Watch Fair, the watch quickly proved to be a commercial success with sales in exces of $2m in its first year.
, then president of Swatch Group's Omega division, met Carlo Crocco, and in May 2004, Biver assumed duties as CEO, becoming a board member and minority shareholder in Hublot Watches.
Upon his arrival, Biver set about creating a new flagship collection that was unveiled in Basel in April 2005, with the Hublot "Big Bang" chronograph. It was an immediate success and orders increased threefold in one year. A few months later, in November 2005, the Big Bang chronograph was awarded internationally, receiving the "2005 Design Prize" in the "Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix", the "Sports Watch Prize" at the "Watch of the Year" ceremony in Japan, and the Middle Eastern Prize for the "Best Oversized Watch" at the Editor’s Choice "Watch of the Year" in Bahrain. Following the arrival of Biver in 2004, the brand's sales hit 24 million Swiss francs and by the end of 2006, sales were bordering on the 100 million Swiss franc mark.
. Today, Hublot has a flagship store on Bond Street, London. Stores in the United States are currently located in Las Vegas, Bal Harbour (FL), New York City, Boca Raton (FL) and Beverly Hills.
had acquired Hublot from founder Carlo Crocco for an undisclosed fee, adding to its existing portfolio of watch brands including TAG Heuer
.
2009, Hublot unveiled a new method of detecting counterfeit watch
es. Using a WISeKey
smart card
, the system authenticates watches on Hublot's servers. The system went live in August 2009.
4 million a year. That same year they provided special versions of their Big Bang watches to referees officiating at UEFA Euro 2008. In March 2010, Hublot was appointed the Official Watchmaker of Formula 1.
In April 2010 Hublot became the official time keeper of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
and the 2014 FIFA World Cup
. They have also been involved in a tie-up with the Financial Times
, sponsoring the newspaper's iPad
app.
They were also sponsor of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in Oslo.
as Hublot's next brand ambassador. Li is the brand’s first Asian ambassador as well as the first film star to work as a Hublot ambassador. Other brand ambassadors include soccer player Diego Maradona
; deceased Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna
’s family and Institute; world's fastest man Usain Bolt
and the Manchester United
football team. Formula One Management President and CEO, Bernie Ecclestone
, was attacked by four men and had his Hublot watch stolen. He later worked with Hublot to use his bruised face in an ad campaign with the tag line, "See what people will do for a Hublot."
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
creating luxury watches and founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco. The company currently operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of France's LVMH
LVMH
LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton S.A., better known as LVMH, is a French multinational luxury goods conglomerate headquartered in Paris, Île-de-France, France. The company was formed after the 1987 merger of fashion house Louis Vuitton with Moët Hennessy, a company formed after the 1971 merger...
.
History
A scionKinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
of the Italian Binda Group
Binda Group
The Binda Group is an Italian watch and jewelry company founded in 1906, headquartered in Milan and headed by brothers Marcello and Simone Binda, grandsons of the founder Innocente Binda...
dynasty, best known for making Breil watches, Carlo Crocco left the company in 1976 to strike out on his own and create a new watch company. Moving to Switzerland he formed MDM Geneve and set about designing a watch that he named the Hublot after the French word for "porthole
Porthole
A porthole is a generally circular, window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Porthole is actually an abbreviated term for "port hole window"...
". The watch that he created featured the first natural rubber strap in the history of watchmaking. It took 3 years of research to create the strap. Despite failing to attract a single potential customer on the first day of its debut at the 1980 Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
Watch Fair, the watch quickly proved to be a commercial success with sales in exces of $2m in its first year.
The Jean-Claude Biver era
Carlo Crocco, preoccupied by his own design work and many activities for the Hand-in-Hand Foundation, a charity helping deprived children all around the world, set out to look for the man who could oversee his watchmaking business. In late 2003, Jean-Claude BiverJean-Claude Biver
Jean-Claude Biver is CEO, board member, and minority shareholder of Hublot, a Swiss luxury watchmaker. Biver has been extremely successful at Hublot, and was previously successful in rejuvenating the Blancpain and Omega brands, both currently owned by Swatch Group...
, then president of Swatch Group's Omega division, met Carlo Crocco, and in May 2004, Biver assumed duties as CEO, becoming a board member and minority shareholder in Hublot Watches.
Upon his arrival, Biver set about creating a new flagship collection that was unveiled in Basel in April 2005, with the Hublot "Big Bang" chronograph. It was an immediate success and orders increased threefold in one year. A few months later, in November 2005, the Big Bang chronograph was awarded internationally, receiving the "2005 Design Prize" in the "Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix", the "Sports Watch Prize" at the "Watch of the Year" ceremony in Japan, and the Middle Eastern Prize for the "Best Oversized Watch" at the Editor’s Choice "Watch of the Year" in Bahrain. Following the arrival of Biver in 2004, the brand's sales hit 24 million Swiss francs and by the end of 2006, sales were bordering on the 100 million Swiss franc mark.
Hublot stores
In February 2007, Hublot opened its first mono-brand store in Paris, in the Rue Saint-Honoré. The second was opened in the summer of that year, in the Hôtel Byblos, Saint-TropezSaint-Tropez
Saint-Tropez is a town, 104 km to the east of Marseille, in the Var department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. It is also the principal town in the canton of Saint-Tropez....
. Today, Hublot has a flagship store on Bond Street, London. Stores in the United States are currently located in Las Vegas, Bal Harbour (FL), New York City, Boca Raton (FL) and Beverly Hills.
Acquisition by LVMH
In April 2008 it was announced that luxury goods group LVMHLVMH
LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton S.A., better known as LVMH, is a French multinational luxury goods conglomerate headquartered in Paris, Île-de-France, France. The company was formed after the 1987 merger of fashion house Louis Vuitton with Moët Hennessy, a company formed after the 1971 merger...
had acquired Hublot from founder Carlo Crocco for an undisclosed fee, adding to its existing portfolio of watch brands including TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer is a Swiss luxury watchmaker known for its sports watches and chronographs. It is a division of luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton. The company motto is "Swiss Avant-Garde Since 1860"...
.
Hublot WISeKey
At BaselWorldBaselWorld
Baselworld Watch and Jewellery Show is a trade show for the watch and jewellery industry organized annually in the city of Basel, Switzerland. The international show unites about 2,100 exhibitors from over 45 countries, including the leading watch and jewelry brands, as well as companies...
2009, Hublot unveiled a new method of detecting counterfeit watch
Counterfeit watch
A counterfeit watch is an illegal copy of an authentic watch. According to estimates by the Swiss Customs Service, there are some 30 to 40 million counterfeit watches put into circulation each year. For example, the number and value of Customs’ seizures rose from CHF 400,000 and 18 seizures in 1995...
es. Using a WISeKey
WISeKey
WISeKey is a digital information security, authentication, and identity management company, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland with regional subsidiaries around the world...
smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...
, the system authenticates watches on Hublot's servers. The system went live in August 2009.
Sponsorships
To increase the public profile of their brand Hublot have engaged in a number of sponsorship deals. In 2008, they agreed a sponsorship deal with the football club Manchester United, worth £UKP
UKP may refer to:* Ukrainian Communist Party* Pound sterling, but the actual ISO 4217 code is GBP* The Unbounded Knapsack problem.* Ubiquitous Knowledge Processing Lab...
4 million a year. That same year they provided special versions of their Big Bang watches to referees officiating at UEFA Euro 2008. In March 2010, Hublot was appointed the Official Watchmaker of Formula 1.
In April 2010 Hublot became the official time keeper of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
and the 2014 FIFA World Cup
2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be the 20th FIFA World Cup, an international association football tournament that will take place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014....
. They have also been involved in a tie-up with the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, sponsoring the newspaper's iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
app.
They were also sponsor of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in Oslo.
Ambassador
At the opening ceremony for its first flagship store in Beijing, Biver introduced Jet LiJet Li
The fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce...
as Hublot's next brand ambassador. Li is the brand’s first Asian ambassador as well as the first film star to work as a Hublot ambassador. Other brand ambassadors include soccer player Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona is a retired Argentine football player and widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. Over the course of his professional club career Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys, setting...
; deceased Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver. A three-time Formula One world champion, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time...
’s family and Institute; world's fastest man Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay...
and the Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
football team. Formula One Management President and CEO, Bernie Ecclestone
Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Charles "Bernie" Ecclestone is an English business magnate, as president and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration and through his part-ownership of Alpha Prema, the parent company of the Formula One Group of companies. As such, he is generally considered the primary...
, was attacked by four men and had his Hublot watch stolen. He later worked with Hublot to use his bruised face in an ad campaign with the tag line, "See what people will do for a Hublot."