A Brief History of Hublot
Founded in 1980 by Italian Carlo Crocco, Hublot are a Swiss luxury watchmaker that currently operate as a subsidiary of the LVMH group, having been acquired in April 2008.
Crocco intended to design something unique and different. After three years of research, he finally created his masterpiece, a watch that featured the first natural rubber strap in the history of watchmaking. He called it ‘Hublot’, which means ‘porthole’ in French. This timepiece didn’t generate much attention in its first Basel Watch fair in 1980 but eventually proved to be a success in its first year, generating sales of over $2 million.
This success was mainly due to the original concept of mixing metal with rubber, which soon became hugely popular amongst royalty and celebrities alike. By the 1990s, other watchmakers were also offering rubber straps, further cementing the brand as a pioneer in the industry.
Jean-Claude Biver became Hublot’s CEO in 2004 after having made a name for himself at Omega, Audemars Piguet and Blancpain. Under him, Hublot focused on combining unusual materials like ceramic, carbon and tungsten with more traditional materials found in watchmaking, such as gold, silver and diamonds.
Driven by a passion for innovation, Hublot continue to thrive with watches that are beloved and collected around the world by timekeeping enthusiasts.