To All the Hublot Haters (A Classic Fusion Review)

Just want to spread some positivity about a brand that often gets skewered in the watch community.

Let’s address the elephant in the room, it’s powered by a pedestrian movement, finished in pretty basic fashion. Ok, now that we’ve accepted that, let’s talk about everything else.

The case and strap: this is where Hublot has spent the time and effort.  Especially in gold, the mix of brushed and polished surfaces and the way the strap integrates to the case with nearly perfect tolerances (GS looking at you) is something I catch myself admiring whenever on the wrist.  The strap is also one of the most elegantly executed rubber straps in the game and I damn near put a rubber strap on everything.

The dial - the sunburst grey dial is something I love on this piece, it goes full mirror/black in certain lights and brilliant silver in others.  The hour markers have a visual heft that I have not seen in other makes and the skeleton hands are perfectly finished with no visible imperfections even under magnification.  Sure, minute markers would have made this watch more useful but that‘s not it’s purpose.  It’s for the leisure days, the off the clock days, the get there when I get there days.  If I could change one thing, I’d remove the date, but hey, nobody’s perfect.

Backstory and how I came to own this piece - I was one of the many hublot haters for years.  I understand the overpriced, lack of refinement, not in-house and missing the lore and legend of some other watch houses that often follows the name Hublot around.  

This piece belonged to my father and I assure you I said all of things previously mentioned above to him when he brought the big black box home after a cruise to the Caribbean with a grin on his face.   

Fast forward a decade or so and my dad left this watch to me after his passing and it’s become a regular in my rotation.  It’s got greater meaning to me than a 100 trips to the moon or the Mariana Trench.  Sure it’s a piece with extreme sentimental value but I have to say it’s comfortable as heck on the wrist and as satisfying to wear from a pure aesthetic standpoint as any watch I own.

Conclusion - All these other watch brands started somewhere; Hublot is relatively new (40 years is pretty young) and they’re going to make good decisions and bad ones as they make their mark.  I’d like to think that at some point someone puts on a watch and goes onto to do great things with it and the legend grows from there.  Hublot just hasn’t had that happen yet.  Give it an unbiased shot, try one on for size; who knows, it could be you.

Cheers