TIME MOVES ever so quickly, and yet the entities that remind us of its passing move so slowly. I’m talking about watch companies. Built up on one generation following another, time freezes for many of them, and they remain the same, unlike the world that surrounds them.
That wasn’t quite the case for Hublot, founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco, himself a member of the watchmaking Binda Group family. The brand was helmed in the 2000s by Jean-Claude Biver, before ultimately being absorbed into the LVMH family in 2008. As it is, thanks to Mr. Biver’s skill in handling watch brands (he had his own watch brand, Blancpain, until 2003, and was part of the Omega brand as well), he appointed President of the Watches Division, LVMH Group in January 2014, and oversees TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith. BusinessWorld met Mr. Biver when he visited the Philippines earlier this month to open the Philippine leg of the Hublot: The Art of Fusion exhibition, a roving exhibit which has been seen at some of the world’s style capitals, such as London and New York. The Philippine leg ended on Nov. 15.
Filled with the energy of a young man, Mr. Biver talked about Hublot’s role in the industry. “The whole concept is based on disruption. In the watch business, we had very little disruption. The watch business used to be a very traditional business. Traditional brands, traditional shapes.”
Hublot’s style is masculine and maximalist, just like the people who wear it: Jay Z has been sporting one, along with many other luminaries in the entertainment industry.
Meanwhile, Mr. Biver explained that celebrity partnerships, such as a watch designed in collaboration with athlete Usain Bolt, are meant to raise funds and awareness for charities that the celebrities are already involved with. “With Depeche Mode, we raised I don’t know how many millions for kids with cancer in England,” he said.
“Hublot is the first luxury brand to take inspiration from streetwear, from rappers, from millennials. In that sense, Hublot has become a very avant-garde and fashionable brand. That explains the success,” he noted.
One might think that attaining, collecting, and hoarding luxury is in the realm of the old, but Mr. Biver thinks otherwise. “The young are very sensitive to luxury. The young are extremely brand-conscious,” he said, pointing out the sneaker craze that had seen the Yeezy flying off shelves despite costing $300. “The young are now at the forefront of fashion. The young dictate fashion.
“Young people give inspiration to old ones… that is probably also our success. If we seduce the young, then the old will buy. Because older people don’t want to buy old products. They’re already old themselves. If you are old, and you buy old products, then you are getting really never-young. If you are old, and you connect to the young, that maintains your youth.”
That perhaps would explain Hublot’s foray into sports, such as serving as official watch and timekeeper of Ferrari and FIFA. “Wherever our customer goes, we will follow. Most of the brands, they make one decision,” he said, pointing to luxury brands’ preference for yachting or golf events. “Which means, the customer meets them only when he goes to golf. We see our customer, wherever he moves.”
One might think that watches merely serve as a way to track our movements within time, but Mr. Biver makes a case for making us think of watches reminding us of life beyond time — or, that is, carefully alloted time. “Our timepieces are not made [for you to] look at what time it is. Our timepieces are a way, are a part of a lifestyle. Our timepieces are part of an experience, are part of a story, a dream, a desire; of sexy appeal. That is our product,” he said. “We are not a mere timekeeper; we are producing art.”
“We produce irrationality. And the irrationality is the most beautiful part of life. The rationality of life is a little bit boring. It’s depressing. What is rational is horrible. Rational means, ‘I’m going to pay taxes, I’m going to get old, I’m going to die.’ We want irrationality. We want dreams.”
Owning a watch that can cost millions of dollars is indeed a luxury, but the money that went into the watch cannot buy time — the rarest commodity of all. “The greatest luxury is eternity,” said Mr. Biver. “I know only one guy who had that. It’s God. All the other people have zero eternity,” he continued with some laughter. “They have limited time. Time is life, but time is also above life.” — Joseph L. Garcia
