Year after year, must solve the triple equation of being different, unique, and first. This is the only way it can keep on surprising, which is the condition for success. So says Chairman Jean-Claude Biver.
Unsuspecting visitors browsing the products in the windows of stand at Baselworld jump back in surprise when the famous $5 Million watch, the most expensive timepiece at the fair, comes flying out of a screen as a 3D animation… although judging by the crowd clustered around this latest find, they get over their surprise quickly enough. Equally original, but this time inside the stand, is the Hublot watch that appears to be moved by a virtual hand. Hublot clearly sweeps the board for its window-dressing, which it infuses with the element of surprise that distinguishes the brand. Jean-Claude Biver, Chairman, explains.
What's the motivation behind a $5 million watch?
Jean-Claude Biver: One word: Geneva. Why Geneva? Simply because it's thanks to the Reformer John Calvin that watchmaking developed there in the sixteenth century, after the city had already acquired outstanding expertise in jewellery-making. This direction was further confirmed by the arrival of the Huguenots, following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to the point that over the years time measurement embraced the arts of jewellery-making, engraving and enamelling which had widely contributed to Geneva's reputation. This is the tradition we set out to honour with our Fine Jewellery watches.
Like mountaineers, we began with the ascension of the Matterhorn, with our One Million $ BB, then set out to scale Mont Blanc, in 2011, with our $3 million watch. This year we've taken on Everest with this $5 million Fine Jewellery watch, fully set with some 1,300 diamonds for a total 140 carats. This is a perfectly credible itinerary if you consider the history of Geneva watchmaking. Please don't take this as arrogance on our part. It's simply a question of staying connected to our past while allowing our jewellers to express their talent. Of course everyone has been talking about this watch, given that it's the most expensive one here. In fact it was sold on Friday March 9th at 9.30am. It's no longer ours.
I could ask the same question about your reproduction of the Antikythera mechanism.
Just as we made our $5 million watch to reconnect with John Calvin, our Antikythera watch builds a bridge with the past, in this instance with Archimedes' planetarium. Every entrepreneur must look to the past to better anticipate the future. From a scientific point of view, it was a fascinating adventure from the very first contacts with the Archaeology Museum in Athens up to the final outcome: this miniaturised version of the mechanism to which we have added the time as the only modern-day indication. You can imagine how enriching it was for us to discover such knowledge, dating from the second century BC and which the Christians kept in darkness for centuries. Knowledge that was capable, for example, of calculating moon phases with a precision of 0.15 second. It's quite simply astounding. This experience has also taught us lessons that will be useful to us for our future timepieces.
Always new surprises, is this what Hublot is about?
We've been surprising people for six years, some years more than others. As far as I'm concerned, Hublot must comply with three basic principles: be different, be unique, be first. Our future depends on our solving this triple equation, time after time. The surprises spring from this. We've managed so far so I don't see why it should be any different in the years to come. As I often say, no innovation equals no future. This is our mission, our existential message, our core. It's how we got Hublot to move from being a product to a brand.
You're showing a number of women's watches this year. Is Hublot aiming to strengthen its appeal to women?
It soon became clear that women were taken with our watches, and not necessarily watches designed with them in mind. While initially there was nothing to suggest such a development, it would have been a shame not to turn something that came about by chance into a deliberate action to better serve them.
How do you see 2012?
Very probably in line with previous years, meaning a new record year. For Hublot too, which must always do better than the industry average given our objective to win market share. We're still at the catching-up stage.
Where will you find this market share?
Undoubtedly in China, where Hublot only makes 3% of its revenue compared with an average for the industry of 35%. Obviously there's a gap that needs filling which will again oblige us to grow faster. In most other countries, we're in line with the rest of the industry. We know this won't happen overnight, particularly as we have no intention of adapting what we are to suit Chinese customers' particular preferences. So we'll have to wait for them to come to us, and it's my firm belief that this is what will happen.
Do you have any extension plans?
We're like a number of other watch firms. We have plans to build a "sister" site, by which I mean an identical replica of the existing site. This will double our production capacity and allow us to integrate new professions and become more vertical. It will stand next to the first site with a walkway joining the two. We're in the final stages of buying the land and hope to have the building permit for the beginning of 2013. The new site should be operational between end 2014 and early 2015.
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