Back to 1980: Hublot recreates its very first watch in gold and rubber
With the Classic Fusion Tributo, Hublot revisits Carlo Crocco's 1980 design – twelve screws, a gold case, a rubber strap. New are a 38mm case and an automatic movement.
Photo: LaMèreVeille / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Video: YouTube · Monochrome Watches · youtube.com
On 15 October Hublot unveiled the Classic Fusion Tributo, a tribute to the brand's first watch. Carlo Crocco presented it at the Basel fair in 1980 under the name MDM Genève: a 36mm yellow-gold case with twelve screws in the bezel, a quartz movement and a black rubber strap. According to SJX Watches, it was the first watch to pair a precious-metal case with a rubber strap. The name Hublot comes from the French word for porthole.
The new version comes in 18-carat yellow or white gold, measuring 38mm across and 9.5mm high, and is water-resistant to 100 metres. Instead of quartz, it runs on a Manufacture automatic calibre with a power reserve of around 50 hours. The yellow-gold model has a matte black lacquered dial, the white-gold model a black onyx dial and blackened screws. It is not a limited edition. To mark the launch, Hublot is donating CHF 100,000 to Crocco's Main dans la Main Foundation.
“Today, seeing the very first design and the origins of the Art of Fusion brought back to life is deeply emotional,” said Crocco, who sold the company to LVMH in 2008. Hublot CEO Julien Tornare said that to respect Hublot is to honour its origins, “not by freezing it in time, but by keeping it in motion.” The video on the Classic Fusion Tributo can be watched on the YouTube channel of watch magazine Monochrome Watches.