With so many watch brands out there, it gets hard to choose one specific brand to wear on the wrist. It’s curious to see how people select watches based on different reasons. Some watch enthusiasts choose timepieces only relying on their aesthetic look. Others rely only on the brand echo, its history, and its tradition. The third category looks for a revolutionary and innovative spirit. At this point, it’s impossible to omit to mention the Hublot watchmaking brand.
In this article, I’d like to talk about Hublot in particular and share some fun facts that make me crazy about it. Hublot is not the brand that catches attention through age or tradition, like Patek Philippe or Constantin Vacheron, for instance. However, it has some assets that make it stand out from the crowd. It’s the innovative and revolutionary spirit that pulls the brand forward, making it the brand of choice for millions of watch lovers. And this article is not about some specific characteristics of Hublot watches. It’s more about the value essence that makes people choose it.
Thus, I’ve compiled some of the Hublot fun facts that you have probably missed. Read them out to see if they resonate with you and your expectations regarding a watch brand. I found them pretty catchy and they made me look at this brand through brighter colors.
“Hublot” name is not incidental
It’s a common phenomenon in the watchmaking industry to have a suggestive name and logo. Plenty of resounding brands are named after the founder of the big brand. In this context, Jaeger LeCoultre is a great example, in which “LeCoultre” is actually the surname of the founder and inventor Antoine Le Coultre.
Another example suggesting something special about the watch brand name is the Longines watchmaking house. This time, the brand name refers to the name of the place where the very first factory of Longines was built. So, the first “headquarter” of this factory was placed in Es Longines somewhere in Saint-Imier Switzerland, and the translation would sound like “Long Meadows”.
So, what’s Hublot about? In fact, the term is a fresh one and means “porthole”. The dictionary gives us an explanation of the porthole meaning a small window of large vessels. Metaphorically, it’s a window through which sea travelers see the beauty and the majesty of the endless water. Transposing this concept to watches, the porthole actually refers to the watch bezel which is also a kind of “window” through which you see the beauty and majesty of a watch face. So, everything is interconnected.
Hublot makes its bezels like no other, investing a lot of effort in making them distinctive from other brands. Just one example to look at: the Big Bang collection. The iconic bezels of this collection make the line remarkable from hundreds of other watch collections.
So, long story short, the Hublot brand name is not incidental. It reflects a philosophy in which a watch is a window to the unimaginable beauty of horology.
Innovation?! What innovation?!
It’s a common thing for every watch brand to bring its contribution to the industry. It’s like a moral debt every brand has once it steps into the realm. Also, it’s like a self-challenge to create functions, mechanisms, and design approaches that no one else has ever made. So, the merit of Hublot in particular is the invention of the rubber straps, among other achievements. Yes, it was Hublot that brought rubber straps into the watch industry.
Such types of straps were out of the imagination until the 80s. And let me tell you that the first attempts weren’t highly appreciated. Such things often happen when some “out of the box” inventions appear. But, within a couple of years, rubber strap watches became the best-selling models of the brand. That’s because people have begun appreciating comfort over luxury and realized that luxury is highly compatible with comfort.
In the same vein, it won’t be odd to mention that the brand spent about three years creating the famous rubber strap. You were wrong to think that it was an easy task. Now, imagine the detailed attention of this watchmaking factory considering that it took 3 years to create just a rubber strap.
That you Hublot, for making watches look so gorgeous on the wrist and feel so comfortable due to the indispensable rubber strap!
Hublot and sports: a long-lasting relationship
It’s not news that watchmaking brands frequently offer their support to certain sports. Some align with car racing competitions, others create strong partnerships with Olympic Games. Hublot decided to go another way. It took the challenge to invest in cricket, becoming the first Swiss watch brand to do so. In fact, cricket might not be as popular in Western Europe as it is in other world zones, like India for instance. But, if speaking statistically, cricket is actually the second most popular type of sport after football, obviously.
By the way, once I’ve mentioned “football”, Hublot is also massively supporting this sport as well. If you are a football fan, you must have seen that the extra time in the FIFA (ad to only) games is announced on a Hublot panel. Thus, the brand is actually the official timekeeper for the FIFA World Cup as well as FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The brand’s motto is not just words
Every watch brand has a certain philosophy which is resented in every collection and in every watch. So, the philosophy behind the iconic brand relies on the “art of fusion”. This means that the brand has a distinctive vision in coupling different design approaches and different materials. As a result of this, this watchmaking brand is among the leaders in experimenting with diverse materials that no one has attempted before. To prove that, take a look at the Hublot Arturo Fuente ForbiddenX collection. It includes a series of watches with real tobacco leaves imprinted on the dial.
This collection appeared as a result of the partnership with Arturo Fuente who is a famous name in the cigar production world. In consequence, the watches feature the same leaves that have been used for the production of the popular ForbiddenX cigars.
Another great example proving the motto credo is the creation of the Hublot Magic Gold with an unprecedented scratch-proof property. The brand obtained the high scratch-proof resistance of the gold by mixing it with ceramic. As if it was not enough, Hulot used the same approach to create Gold Carbon, by mixing the two ingredients together. To end up the invention epics, Texalium is another material of the big brand in which it mixed up aluminum and carbon fiber.
It doesn’t really matter whether these materials proved to be better or not than the standard materials. It’s not about that necessarily. It’s about the courage of accepting challenges and daring for more. And that’s an asset that is missing in so many modern watchmaking brands.
Marketing is as phenomenal as watches are
As far as it seems, not only the watchmaking production is at the most superior level possible, but the marketing strategy as well. And here is why.
Bernie Ecclestone is a well-known name in the formula 1 realm. He is actually an English business magnate who was the former executive of the Formal One group. Well, back in 2010, several thieves attacked him and robbed his Hublot timepiece. The whole marketing team created an entire promotion campaign around the subject using the picture of Ecclestone’s injured face. The “main character” of the campaign had nothing against it; on the contrary, he was totally in. The message of the marketing campaign was nothing else than: “See what people will do for a Hublot”. Do I have to mention the huge success the campaign had?!
Kobe Bryant: Hublot remembers you!
The iconic basketball player had partnered with the big brand to create the Limited Edition line known as the Black Mamba Kobe Bryant King Power. This lineup had been integrated into the Big Bang collection. Sadly, the basketball icon has passed away in 2020, astonishing the whole world. Right after the tragedy, the Black Mamba Limited Edition watches were sold at a quadrupled price, showing the unforgettable status that the phenomenal player had.
Final thoughts
Many watch lovers only know that Hublot is a big player in the watch industry. But, few of them know why exactly. The above-mentioned facts are only the minimum reasons why the brand is so marvelous. It is phenomenal from “head to toe” as you can see and it has an ambitious attitude and mindset from all the angles you look at it.
Currently, the brand owns about 90 boutiques around the world, making it a global watchmaking house. People love it, appreciate its innovative approach, and embrace its daring spirit.
Now, if you think as you resonate with this audacious and fearless brand, what about trying a replica Hublot watch? You can discover great models here at AAAReplica. Whenever the model you choose, be sure that you are going to wear an intriguing and striking timepiece. Because that’s what Hublot creates.