Hublot is a Swiss enterprise creating luxury watches and founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco.The company currently operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of France's LVMH.
A scion of the Italian Binda Group dynasty, best known for making Breil watches, Carlo Crocco left the company in 1976 to strike out on his own and create a new watch company. Moving to Switzerland he formed MDM Geneve and set about designing a watch that he named the Hublot after the French word for "porthole". The watch that he created featured the first natural rubber strap in the history of watchmaking.It took 3 years of research to create the strap. Despite failing to attract a single potential customer on the first day of its debut at the 1980 Basel Watch Fair, the watch quickly proved to be a commercial success with sales in exces of $2m in its first year.
To increase the public profile of their brand Hublot have engaged in a number of sponsorship deals. In 2008, they agreed a sponsorship deal with the football club Manchester United, worth £4 million a year.That same year they provided special versions of their Big Bang watches to referees officiating at UEFA Euro 2008.In March 2010, Hublot was appointed the Official Watchmaker of Formula 1.
In April 2010 Hublot became the official time keeper of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. They have also been involved in a tie-up with the Financial Times, sponsoring the newspaper's iPad app.
They were also sponsor of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in Oslo.