Hublot - Symbol of fusion in watchmaking
Tribune des Arts - November 2004
Since taking over the reins of the Hublot watchmaking brand, Jean-Claude Biver has been given a new lease of life, sharing with everyone he meets the same undimmed enthusiasm he had when he revived Blancpain or when he reinvigorated Omega. Moreover, with Hublot, this marketing guru of the watchmaking world has revealed a lesser known side of himself to the public as an enthusiast of mechanics and haute horlogerie. In the space of a few months, he has in fact managed to turn Hublot into a genuine watchmaking manufactury capable of creating wholly innovative mechanisms. "I am a devotee of the art of watchmaking," he explains. "I have established Blancpan as the "standard" in the craft of watchmaking and am now in the process of achieving, with Hublot, a "fusion in watchmaking craftsmanship. In other words I want to create a synthesis, each time, between materials and techniques that are not meant to go together, such as diamonds and rubber, such as complicated mechanisms with a really simple design, such as tourbillon escapement frames in ceramic or coloured metal ... A concept that has to be visible both inside and outside the watch. Hublot is now the symbol of the fusion in watchmaking".
A challenge which Jean-Claude Biver has the resources to meet. Hence the building sheltering the Hublot workshops at Nyon is undergoing a transformation, along with a complete overhaul of working practices with the brand's various subcontractors. "Until a few months ago, Hublot was happy to buy very good movements from Frederic Piguet, Dubois Depraz or Eta and then assemble them. We'll continue to do this but we're now working directly on ebauches, we're developing new components and we're machining them on the subcontractors' premises. For example, tungsten rotors that we've commissioned Zurcher aux Bois in Jura to make. This means that we're approaching the best companies in each field, thus enabling us to streamline the parent company's structures whilst remaining totally interventionist".
Wholly independent specialists
Above all, Jean-Claude Biver has enlisted the services of "BNB", three brilliant watchmakers who have worked for the most prestigious brands and have created eight types of innovative tourbillon escapements, filing almost 1 original patent every fortnight. "We decided to rise to formidable challenges together, to pool our enthusiasm", explain Mathias Buttet, Michel Navas and Enrico Babazini. A collaborative venture that allows Hublot to remain wholly independent to create small series of complicated or wholly novel movements since "BNB" in fact comprises some fifteen employees including engineers, watch prototypists, chemists specialising in electroplating, etc. "Since we're set up to be fully autonomous and to make everything from start to finish, including, escapements, balances, wheels, and so forth, we are able to give free rein to the wildest inventions which are always met with enthusiasm by Jean-Claude Biver", they chorus.
In this way Hublot has infinite creative possibilities, ranging from haute horlogerie at its consummate best to coloured titanium pieces which are channelled by Jean-Claude Biver to offer ever more stunning but highly wearable wrist watches. Already at the prototype stage, the models will be presented at the next Basel Exhibition and are set to revolutionise the art of watchmaking before rapidly becoming "classics". This at any rate is the opinion of the professionals who have already had a chance to preview them.
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