The story of Jean-Claude Biver and how he has shaken up one sleepy Swiss watch company after another is a great one, but today I’m only going to focus a small part of it, and that will be how he revolutionized Hublot, a tiny company, with his Big Bang watch. Everyone who has met Mr Biver knows that he is a character who is far larger than life. So after leaving the Swatch Group where he had done various jobs including overhauling the Omega brand,  Mr Biver seemed to have gone to ground. When he emerged it was as a part-owner and manager of Hublot.
Now Hublot was a relatively new Swiss watch producer. It was only formed in 1980. But it was one that had been incredibly creative and had innovated from the very beginning when Carlo Crocco , its founder, introduced rubber straps on expensive gold watches. The idea seemed mad to most people in the industry but it soon picked up a dedicated following. For one thing, people were attracted by the fact that the rubber didn’t cause allergic reactions to some people who struggle with traditional watch straps and materials. It is also not quite clear why, but the Spanish royal family soon took a liking to the early Hublot watches. That started a craze in Spain where the watch has been popular ever since.

In 2004 when Mr Biver took charge of Hublot he thought that its line up had become a bit stale and he wanted to make a huge impression while still keeping with Hublot’s tradition of using innovation. His answer was the Big Bang, which took unusual materials such as gold and ceramic and fused them together with a bang. All sorts of strange materials are used. While titanium watches have become quite popular in recent years,Hublot takes things 10 steps further by combining materials such as Kevlar, red gold, magnesium, titanium and carbon fibre. Mr Biver describes it as a fusion of traditional Swiss Watch making with the Twenty-first century.

These are big and bold watches that are designed to stand out on the arm, not to blend in. Hublot has also crafted a large number of special editions such as the million dollar watch which is covered in diamonds, or a bright red valentines day Big Bang (which would match nicely, I suppose with a pair of red earrings).

Hublot has continued to expand and to innovate on the Big Bang. It recently opened in big new factory and has started making and designing its own mechanical movements, a move which sets it apart from quite a large number of other Swiss Watch companies that simply build the case and buy a movement to go in it.

Some of those who watch the industry closely worry about whether Hublot is too focused on a single watch, even though it comes in many variations, but for now it is doing well. Mr Biver is a consummate marketing expert and keeps finding new ways to innovate and promote his watches. Among his recent moves were to sponsor Manchester United football club and to get involved in the Americas Cup yacht race. The man whom the Economist magazine called a “salesman of the irrational” seems likely to keep coming up with ideas and designs that should keep Hublot a trend-setting Swiss watch producer for years to come. These are not your classic Swiss watches, but give them 50 years and they sure will be.

A bright red watch to match the season

The Hublot Big Bang: A Modern Classic Swiss Watch