INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
We experience a sense of dichotomy as we step through the lobby of Hublot’s headquarters: its glass facade and portholeshaped exhibits carved into the wooden floor scream modern, but baroquesque red velvet sofas and obsolete watchmaking equipment doubling as decor elements are a reminder that the archaic tradition of mechanical watchmaking is still alive and kicking within the current zeitgeist. This yin-yang vibe is apparent throughout the space, where the whirring of ultra-modern machines is indemnified by the silence of watchmakers diligently hand-polishing and hand-assembling the watch. Guadalupe muses, “We believe that our success can also be linked between machine and man.” At the case-making workshop, CNC machines are capable of cutting, milling and shaping the varied cases found at Hublot, from its porthole-resembling Big Bang to the unconventional Laferrari engine. These machines are at the cutting-edge of innovation, allowing the watchmaker to speed up processes and manufacture in-house components that were previously not possible. For instance, an electro-erosion wire machine has a tolerance to engineer minute components spanning mere microns of a millimetre. Another ultrasonic machine is engineered to slice through Hublot’s proprietary superhard gold alloy, Magic Gold, with a