Compared to the centuries-old traditional Swiss watchmaking houses, Hublot, with just four decades under its strap, could be considered a neophyte. But it’s fair to say that the watch brand is no stranger to ambition. The mischievous horological upstart has always been a bit of a disruptor, breaking conventions in technology and design, experimenting with metals and materials like an alchemist, while its disdain for boundaries has propelled it from small-scale watch designer to global brand powerhouse. The name is all over the football world, including sponsorship and timekeeping for the last World Cup, and across many other glamorous sports, arts and design spheres.

Now celebrating its 40th year, it’s in the last 16, under the trailblazing charge of horological hero Jean-Claude Biver, latterly Ricardo Guadalupe, that the brand’s story has become a template for the making of a modern watch brand.

Left: the Big Bang One Click Marc Ferrero; right: the Classic Fusion Tourbillon Orlinski Black Magic

In 2005, Jean-Claude Biver launched a luxury watch, unlike any the industry had seen before, with the shamelessly bold name of Big Bang. It was launched in an untypically boisterous and noisy fashion. The porthole styling of the original timepieces (‘hublot’ is French for porthole) remained, but the big, brash chronograph with its chunky design reflected the brand’s philosophy, what it calls ‘the art of fusion’. ‘It’s what we represent as a brand and it means connecting the tradition of watchmaking art with innovation’, explains Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot CEO.

Hublot defied the rules with the Big Bang’s pairing of conventional, classic watchmaking techniques with innovative materials and technical ingenuity. Luxury watches tend to the classic, with modest design. Then along came the Big Bang, with its showy, flamboyant character, shouting the odds as to what a modern watch could be when created in gold combined with rubber, diamonds mixed with denim, sapphires with linen, with gold, crystal and leather mixed unexpectedly.

Left: Big Bang Camo Yohji Yamamoto; right: the Big Bang Ferrari 1000 GP in white gold

The Big Bang may have caused controversy, but this was just the beginning. Hublot began reaching out to fellow connoisseurs of the maverick, the contemporary and avant-garde who could collaborate by applying their artistic imaginations to Hublot watches. ‘We believe for mechanical watches that’s the way forward,’ says Guadalupe. ‘It’s clear we don’t need the actual time, we have to try and create more than a watch. So we get inspiration from outside the industry – whether a tattoo, a sculpture, a car. That’s the direction – watches as art.’

Ferrari has worked with Hublot for over nine years. ‘I would say it’s the most iconic brand in the world, a prestige partnership,’ Guadalupe says. ‘We work together with a team of designers at Ferrari under the leadership of Flavio Manzoni to create watches with the DNAs of Hublot and Ferrari.’

These collaborations are not simply about labelling the watch with another brand’s logo. It’s a deeper design challenge. How does a car designer express in a wristwatch the essence of a supercar? Flavio Manzoni explains they start with a similar approach: ‘It’s a different perspective. Of course, we start with the engine, and aim for a radical design that’s both sporty and elegant.’ The team looked under the Ferrari skin. ‘There’s an intrinsic beauty in parts that are technically driven, dictated by their job. We exploded the watch elements and the designs took off from there.’

Samuel Ross, winner of the 2019 Hublot Design Prize

From the membrane of a Ferrari to human skin, Hublot never shirks from making an impact. The watch brand turned to Maxime Plescia-Büchi, the renowned tattoo artist, for another source of inspiration. Working under the studio name Sang Bleu, his work ranges from fineline to bold traditional. For Hublot, his designs are complex abstracts. ‘Watches have always been in my life,’ Plescia-Büchi says. ‘I work in many mediums, so it’s a matter of adjusting to aesthetic constraints and the technical constraints of the materials.’

Another artist Hublot has worked with in recent years is Marc Ferrero, whose body of work is associated with the Storytelling Art movement. He’s a good fit with Hublot: ‘When I am asked “What innovative and modern idea develops your painting?” Without hesitation, I answer fusion,’ he explains. ‘Using different graphic styles (Cubism, Impressionism, Surrealism, figurative, etc) on the same plane or over my works will always represent an extremely exciting challenge for me.’

Many other partnerships have been forged, more recently with legendary fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, who (naturally) created a stealth black timepiece. Also, notably, with sculptor, artist, music producer Richard Orlinski, probably best known for his Pop Art-inspired, multi-faceted, brightly coloured huge beast sculptures. The creatives are keen to work with the watch brand, and with good reason.

Ross has created a sculpture of metals and stone to mark 40 years of Hublot

Hublot, says Orlinski, ‘Is the only watchmaker who will allow an artist to do whatever they want. We have created more than 40 models together, and it’s an easy, family affair with their team. All the watches sold out.’ Orlinski is clearly a Hublot fan. ‘I like the way they’re developing the brand. They are very open-minded. I love their attitude: sometimes I say something crazy, and they say, why not? Let’s do it!’

Hublot has collaborated with industry leaders, and sports personalities as well as artists and designers. It was the first fine watchmaking brand to engage with football, now partnering with FIFA and UEFA as the Official Timekeeper, with the Premier League, and as official watch of prestigious clubs – Juventus, Chelsea, AFC Ajax, Benfica.

In its exhaustive web of activities that all have ‘the art of fusion’ at their core, Hublot also sponsors the annual Hublot Design Prize. Last year’s winner was Samuel Ross, the 29-year-old artist and industrial designer. ‘His creative approach is both aesthetic and functional, his design purposeful,’ says Guadalupe. ‘His creations are not dependent on any particular field or media, with his creativity crossing all disciplines. We share the same attraction to materials, technique and innovation. As is the case for all of the brand’s friends and ambassadors, Samuel helps us define Hublot from a different angle. While the expression changes, the spirit behind it does not.’

Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe with Jean-Claude Biver

Ross, a protégé of fashion designer Virgil Abloh, has produced his first creation for Hublot’s 40th anniversary, a representation of the brand. Combining igneous rock (granite) as a reference to the origins of fusion, with metal crafted by man, Ross’s sculpture juxtaposes these materials, balancing the organic – that which can only be created over time – and the industrial, which is forged through innovation. In a play on transparency, there are holes in the aluminium structure and the finishes applied combine the traditional expertise of a mirror polish with technological mastery expressed by computer numerical control milling.

‘Hublot symbolises daring innovation,’ Ross explains. ‘The fusion of time between tradition and innovation, and the endless capacityto invent and reinvent materials. My sculpture tells the story of Hublot using simple, clean lines, with a monochrome palette of hues, a touch of vivid colour, and a play on oversized dimensions.’

All this, forty years in. What will the disruptor do next?

hublot.com