(A continuation of the article “Surrounding the SIHH...”) During the SIHH Hublot set up camp over several hundred square metres on the first floor of the Hotel Kempinsky. Dozens of walled cubicles had been set up (necessary for transaction confidentiality) to meet with the brand’s clients who waited patiently to resupply their stocks in an immense room overlooking the lake.

Those in charge of the various markets are all busy, and the head of communication, Marine Lemonnier, scurries from one cubicle to another. The new pieces are on parade: the 45-mm Hublot Ferrari with an in-house Unico movement, in carbon and ceramic, with limited editions priced from CHF 28,000 to CHF 38,000; the Hublot Zebra for ladies in white or black ceramic, or King Gold, with a chronograph movement, priced from CHF 26,500 to CHF 38,900; the Hublot Classic Fusion, equipped with a totally in-house skeleton tourbillon movement, available in 99 pieces at CHF 85,000; the ultra-thin Classic Fusion in ceramic, featuring a 45-mm diameter, in-house manual movement... etc... etc...

The new watches kept coming at a constant rate. Hublot has become an incredible cash machine that never seems to sleep, owing it all to the incredible Jean-Claude Biver, one of the only people to have succeeded not once or twice but three times: Blancpain, created against all expectations and then resold; Omega, that he spectacularly rejuvenated; finally Hublot where he developed his “Big Bang” thus transforming an attractive independent watch brand into a commercial powerhouse.

Surrounding the SIHH: space stations and satellites

Source: Europa Star February - March 2013 Magazine Issue