A look back at the history of Hublot with Ricardo Guadalupe

It was only yesterday when the news broke that high-level executives from some of the biggest watch brands will be making moves around the industry. The CEO of Hublot, Ricardo Guadalupe will take a step back from his role as CEO of Hublot and instead take up the mantle of Honorary President. Taking his place will be Julien Tornare, the current CEO of TAG Heuer and his successor will be the current general manager of Bvlgari Watch Division, Antoine Pin.

This was first announced via the LVMH Watches Division and its CEO, Frédéric Arnault as this major reshuffling will effectively take place come 1st September 2024. All these movements are part of an “elevating and upgrading” strategy that will hopefully see growth in the Maisons owned by the French conglomerate.

Despite the major shake-ups, Ricardo Guadalupe’s choice to step back from his role as CEO of Hublot was unexpected. Having been with the brand since 2004, his 20-year career saw him be a key component in Hublot’s exceptional growth over the last two decades as he also oversaw the brand’s takeover by LVMH in 2008. Having been the CEO for more than a decade, Guadalupe was responsible for bringing Hublot to new heights with exciting collaborations and purposeful watches.

These are just some of Hublot’s biggest partnerships and collaborations as we take a look back at how much Ricardo Guadalupe helped shape the brand to be where it is today.

Hublot Really Loves Football

Hublot has become almost synonymous with the world of football since the start of its partnership back in 2006. This saw them become the official timekeeper in not just international tournaments like the FIFA World Cup but also the UEFA European Football Championship, more colloquially known as just Euros. Aside from being showcased throughout the globe with two of football’s biggest international tournaments, Hublot is also the official timekeeper for the English Premier League.

They currently have just one ambassador who is still active in football in the form of Kylian Mbappé, who is arguably one of the best players in the world right now and who just recently signed with 15-time UEFA Champions League holders, Real Madrid. Known for his exploits during the 2018 World Cup, Mbappé is just one of two players as the face of Hublot in the world of football with the other being Pelé.

The list of head coaches and managers who are friends of the brand includes two-time Champions League winner José Mourinho, France’s 2018 World Cup-winning manager Didier Deschamps, Portugal’s national men’s team head coach Roberto Martinez, the French national women’s team manager Hervé Renard, and Gareth Southgate, who had just stepped down as the England national men’s team manager.

The friends of the brand list also feature former professionals of the sport, some of which were the biggest names in the game during its heyday. This includes players like former Real Madrid stars Sami Khedira and Luís Figo alongside the 1998 World Cup winners David Trezeguet and Marcel Desailly. Making up the rest of the list is the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 and 2019 winner Alex Morgan as well as the six-time UEFA Women’s Champions League winner Ada Hegerberg.

But aside from just having a host of friends of the brand as well as signing one of the world’s biggest footballers to an ambassadorship, Hublot has also elevated the watch industry with its connection to sports. The Hublot Big Bang e Gen3 is a connected watch that was designed to help referees on the field. It is armed with a host of innovative features that have since seen it become the technological breakthrough for the watch industry.

Hublot and its Affinity Towards Sports

While football may be Hublot’s biggest partnership to date, that doesn’t mean it has missed out on other grand sporting events. It also has ambassadors in both tennis and golf with the former featuring the 10-time Australian Open and the seven-time Wimbledon champion, Novak Djokovic. Hublot also has two friends of the brand when it comes to the professional tennis scene including Elina Svitolina as well as Karolina Pliskova.

As for golf, there are two official ambassadors for Hublot, mainly the 2016 U.S. Open and 2020 Masters Tournament winner Dustin “DJ” Johnson and its very own Captain America, Patrick Reed. He is a 2018 Masters Tournament champion but is more known for his performances in the Ryders and Presidents Cup by representing the United States, which explains the nickname. Joining both Johnson and Reed is German professional Olivia Cowan, who was captain of the 2021 team that won the Aramco Team Series – London as well as winning the 2022 Hero Women’s Indian Open.

But it’s more than just tennis and golf that Hublot has a vested interest in. Joining its long line of ambassadors also include the retired eight-time Olympic gold medallist, Usain Bolt. The Jamaican sensation is widely considered the greatest sprinter alive, having achieved 11 World Championship gold medals during his storied career. Joining him as friends of the brand includes the first British woman to win a sprint event, Dina Asher-Smith as well as three-time European Championships medallist, Mujinga Kambundji.

Hublot and its Love for the Arts

Aside from its venture into the world of sports, Hublot has also spent plenty of time venturing into the arts, specifically when it came to musicians as well as artists, sculptors, and designers. Some of the more notable names include Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, known for his Superflat movement and the Murakami Flowers floral motif, which has since become a cult classic. Besides Murakami, both Hublot and Ricardo Guadalupe have since decided to work closely alongside many other contemporary artists.

Daniel Arsham is one such name as the American contemporary visual artist was one of the more recent to work with Hublot. Famous for his work in sculptures, he has collaborated with numerous brands and designers including Hedi Slimane and Kim Jones on two separate occasions for Dior, Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama, Rimowa, as well as Tiffany & Co. to name a few. Arsham’s most recent work with Hublot also saw him as an ambassador of the brand with the release of the Arsham Droplet Pocket Watch.

French contemporary artist Richard Orlinski is another who brought something new and different to Hublot with his outrageous designs in a host of colourways for the Classic Fusion. Street artist Shepard-Fairey also had in his in designing his own Classic Fusion for Hublot while tattoo artist and ambassador Maxime Plescia-Büchi, founder of creative agency Sang Bleu brought his take for the Big Bang.

The world of fashion has also collided with Hublot and featured Samuel Ross, the former founder and creative director of British-based streetwear label, A Cold Wall. This saw him create his very own Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon with his signature aesthetic. Aside from streetwear, the world of French leather maker Berluti also had its collaborations with Hublot. This included several exciting designs for both the Big Bang Unico and the Classic Fusion Chronograph, all of which featured Berluti’s namesake.

Hublot also had its hand in music, which saw them collaborate with British electronic band Depeche Mode to support Charity: Water. This also saw the release of two limited-edition watches: the Hublot Big Bang Depeche Mode in 2017 and The Singles Limited Edition series based on a Big Bang model. And Depeche Mode isn’t the only musician that Hublot has worked with in the past.

Multi-talented Chinese singer Lay Zhang and Chinese pianist Lang Lang are also Hublot brand ambassadors who have had their takes on some of its most popular watches. Even actor and singer Shi Yu is also a brand ambassador for Hublot, which further showcases its commitment towards the Eastern world.

Hublot Has a Hand in Gastronomy

Hublot has had a hand in multiple industries during Ricardo Guadalupe’s over-decade-long career as CEO of the Swiss watch brand. This saw them venture into the world of football, sports, music, and the arts. Another venture that is not well-known is its work in the world of gastronomy. This has since seen Hublot introduce two brand ambassadors to the fold like the 3-Michelin Starred chefs Yannick Alléno, Andreas Camanida, and Anne-Sophie Pic.

Hublot also has an impressive list of friends of the brand that have since propelled the watch brand and the chefs to new heights. This includes Clare Smyth, Jan Hartwig, Paul Pairet, and Eneko Atxa, all of who have garnered 3-Michelin Stars in at least one establishment. There is also Korean chef Mingoo Kang, who has earned 2-Michelin Stars.

Preserving One Rhino at a Time

Kevin Pietersen is a former England international cricketer with many regarding him as one of the greatest batsmen the country has ever produced. However, his time now has been used in another direction, mainly the preservation of rhinoceros. It was first back in 2017 when Pietersen announced that he would be donating all his earnings towards the conservation of rhinos. Hublot would soon be a part of his mission to save the rhinos as he established SORAI, also known as ‘Saving Our Rhinos Africa & India’.

The social enterprise to support rhinoceros conservation is to prevent the number of poaching incidents that have taken place over the years. A large portion of the funds raised from sales of Pietersen’s partnership with Hublot went directly to the ‘Care for Wild’ rhinoceros sanctuary, the largest of its kind in the world. This ensures that all orphaned baby rhinoceros will be rescued and rehabilitated, away from the dangers of poachers in the wild. This saw the release of the Hublot Big Bang Unico SORAI in three unique and distinctive colourways.

Giving It a Big Bang

Ricardo Guadalupe has been at the helm of Hublot since 2012, which also saw many of these collaborations come to life. But during his tenure as CEO for over a decade, Guadalupe also oversaw the release of many new collections from Hublot. One of its biggest releases in the modern era would have to be its in-house Unico movement. While this did come out two years before Guadalupe became CEO, the Unico movement has been the brand’s go-to for some of its most popular series of watches.

Guadalupe also built on the hype that came with the launch of the Hublot Big Bang in 2005 when he released its extremely extravagant variant in 2014, the Spirit of the Big Bang. Its tonneau shape gave it a different air of elegance while still maintaining Hublot’s design aesthetic, which has been synonymous with the brand for over two decades. However, that wasn’t the end as just eight years later, Guadalupe introduced yet another new collection for Hublot.

The first-ever Square Bang Unico was unveiled to the rest of the world in 2022 and drew direct inspiration from the Big Bang that came out 17 years prior. It also features the brand’s in-house Unico movement, much like many of its other watches and it has since been a popular choice for fans and collectors alike who have always wanted something different from Hublot.

Discover more of Hublot at The Hour Glass.