Hublot

Hublot SA
Wholly owned subsidiary
Industry Watchmaking
Founded 1980
Headquarters Nyon
Switzerland
Key people
 Carlo Crocco (founder)
Ricardo Guadalupe (CEO)
Products Wristwatches
Revenue Increase €262.6 million (2012)
Number of employees
 200 (2010)
Parent LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton S.A.
Website www.hublot.com

Hublot (French pronunciation: ​[yblo]) is a Swiss luxury watchmaker founded in 1980 by Italian Carlo Crocco.[1] The company currently operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of France's LVMH. In 1980, it also marked the birth of the 'Fusion' concept a few months after being founded.

History

A scion 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.[2] 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 excess of $2m in its first year.[2]

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 Biver, then president of Swatch Group's Omega division,[3] 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

An enormous Hublot wristwatch at Hublot Boutique shop window in Warsaw

To date, Hublot has 50 Boutiques all over the world. 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-Tropez. Today, Hublot has a flagship store on Bond Street, London. Stores in the United States are currently located in Atlanta, Bal Harbour, Beverly Hills, Boca Raton, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, New York City, and Palm Beach.

In October 2012 they opened their then newest store in Las Vegas preceded by a store in Ulan Bataar, Mongolia.

Acquisition by LVMH

In April 2008 it was announced that luxury goods group LVMH had acquired Hublot from founder Carlo Crocco for an undisclosed fee, adding to its existing portfolio of watch brands including TAG Heuer.[1]

Hublot WISeKey

At BaselWorld 2009, Hublot unveiled a new method of detecting counterfeit watches. Using a smart card, the system authenticates watches on Hublot's servers. The system went live in August 2009.[4]

Sponsorships

Hublot, timekeeper of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in Oslo

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 £ 4 million a year.[5] Later, Hublot started endorsing some top football clubs like FC Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Ajax Amsterdam.

In 2015 the company signed an agreement with San Lorenzo de Almagro of Argentina.

They provided special versions of their B!ig Bang watches to referees officiating at UEFA Euro 2008.[1] In March 2010, Hublot was appointed the Official Watchmaker of Formula 1.[6] Hublot have released a number of Formula One themed watches as a committed partner to Formula One, including celebrating the return of the US Grand Prix to Austin, Texas in November 2012 with the Hublot F1 King Power Austin.[7]

In April 2010 Hublot became the official time keeper of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[8] They have also been involved in a tie-up with the Financial Times, sponsoring the newspaper's iPad app.[9]

Hublot and Ferrari announced during the 2011 Ferrari World Finals at Mugello a long-term strategic partnership which will officially start on 1 January 2012, making Hublot Ferrari's "Official Watch" and "Official Timekeeper".[10] The partnership has so far been slowly built on two timepieces, the Hublot Big Bang Ferrari Magic Gold and Big Bang Ferrari Titanium, that Hublot have consistently toured at world locations throughout 2012.[11]

They are also the sponsors of basketball teams Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.

They were also the sponsors of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in Oslo.

Hublot continued their strong sponsorship and partnership activities in 2012 with becoming the Official Watch of the UEFA EURO 2012 tournament and Official Timekeeper of the tournament.[12]

In April 2012 Hublot Partnered the Swiss Confederation at the World Expo 2012 in South Korea, a 3-month world event, where countries have the opportunity to promote themselves to the world.[13] and will be displaying their new technically brilliant Divers Watch the Hublot Oceanographic 4000 King Gold White, which has been tested to a water resistance of 5000m and is certified water resistant to 4000m.[14]

Hublot also partnered with the Archaeological Museum of Athens in presenting Hublot's "Tribute to the Antikythera Mechanism" movement. The Hublot movement officially joined the National Museum’s collection on 5 April 2012 and will now be on display alongside the remains of the original mechanism.[15]

In January 2013, Scuderia Ferrari had Hublot as its official sponsor for 2013, 2014 and 2015 F1 Season.

In November 2015, Hublot was the official timekeeper and a major sponsor of the inaugural WBSC Premier12 international baseball tournament held in Taiwan and Japan, promoting their partnership with the motto, "Hublot Loves Baseball."[16]

Ambassador

At the opening ceremony for its first flagship store in Beijing, Biver introduced Jet Li 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 former footballer Diego Maradona; deceased Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna’s family and Institute; world's fastest man Usain Bolt;[17] Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma and formerly, the Manchester United football team.[18] 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."[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "LVMH to Buy Hublot to Expand Array of Watch Brands". Bloomberg. 24 April 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  2. 1 2 Weinstein, Bob (July 1996). "Timing is everything – watchmaker Carlo Crocco". Entrepreneur.
  3. ↑ "Sofisti to resign as president of Swatch WorldWide". JCK online. 18 October 2004. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  4. ↑ "Hublot With WISeKey To Fight Imitations". Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  5. ↑ "Man Utd sponsor deal for Hublot". BBC News. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  6. ↑ "Hublot appointed official F1 watchmaker". Formula 1. 13 March 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  7. ↑ "New Watch Alert: Hublot F1 King Power Austin". R.G. Holland. October 2012.
  8. ↑ Hublot becomes Official Timekeeper for next two FIFA World Cups, 15 April 2010, www.fifa.com, Accessed 14 June 2010
  9. ↑ "FT App Wins Award". newsonnews.net. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  10. ↑ "Hublot becomes Ferrari's official timekeeper". Toried. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  11. ↑ "Hublot-Ferrari Tour Continues To Hong Kong". R.G. Holland. October 2012.
  12. ↑ "Hublot Appointed Official Watch of UEFA EURO 2012". The Watch Review Site. March 2012.
  13. ↑ "Hublot partner The Swiss Confederation". The Watch Review Site. April 2012.
  14. ↑ "Hublot Oceanographic 4000 King Gold White". The Watch Review Site. June 2012.
  15. ↑ "Hublot forms a connection with the Archaeological Museum of Athens". The Watch Review Site. April 2012.
  16. ↑ http://www.hublot.com/en/news/hublot-partners-with-the-world-baseball-softball-confederation
  17. ↑ "Hublot and Usain Bolt celebrate opening". Hublot.com. 29 September 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  18. ↑ . watchestrends.com. 1 December 2010 http://www.watchestrends.com/hublot-announces-jet-li-as-legendary-brand-ambassador.html. Retrieved 9 December 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ↑ Daily Mail. London. 11 October 2011 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336679/F1-boss-Bernie-Ecclestone-battered-face-new-ad-200k-Hublot-watch.html. Retrieved 11 October 2011. Missing or empty |title= (help)

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