Hublot

Founded 42 years ago in 1980 by Italian Carlo Crocco. Hublot operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of the French luxury conglomerate LVMH. Hublot blends classical and modern Swiss watchmaking to create unique and innovative timepieces. Hublot, meaning 'pothole' in French, represents the 'art of fusion', meaning it combines exotic materials like gold or ceramic, tantalum and red-gold, or even magnesium and titanium. Hublot broke the mould by creating the gold Hublot watch with a natural black rubber bracelet.This strap is a first in watchmaking history, securing Hublot's place in the industry. In April 2008, luxury goods group LVMH announced it had acquired Hublot from Crocco for an undisclosed fee, adding to its existing portfolio of watch brands including TAG Heuer. At BaselWorld 2009, Hublot unveiled a new method of detecting counterfeit watches. Using a smart card, the system authenticates watches on Hublot's servers. The system went live in August 2009.