Hublot’s Tornare has big plans for Big Bang and beyond

When Julien Tornare assumed the helm of Hublot in September 2024, he recognized the brand’s assets of creativity and innovation, particularly in the realms of design and materials, plus dynamic marketing—engines that drove the brand’s success in the 21st century, which he intends to build on.

But there was something else that needed to be addressed.

“There is one key aspect that has not really been, in my opinion, worked on or communicated on enough, and that’s watchmaking substance,” says Tornare as he presented the new models at last week’s LVMH Watch Week in Milan. “Hublot’s weakness today is that we don’t get the credit we should on the watchmaking, and honestly, this is wrong.”

After working with purist brands such as Vacheron Constantin and Zenith, Tornare admits being surprised by the level of knowledge he saw when he came to Hublot, noting the in-house Unico and MECA-10 movements as standouts, not to mention in-house produced sapphire and ceramic materials. 

 “My strategy will be to elevate and upgrade our watches in terms of movements,” he says. “I want to use only manufacture movements, no more industrial movements. I want to upgrade the level of finishing, because I really want to play in a position where Hublot is high-end watchmaking, clearly established and perceived.” 

Becoming unburdened by all the reverence to centuries-old tradition and heritage has it’s upside as well, adds Tornare, joking that Hublot is the first brand he has run that is actually younger than he is. “We are here to be crazy,” he says. “We are here to break the rules. We are here to push the boundaries, and that’s what Hublot is for. But first, we need to reinforce this watchmaking credibility.”

One example of his out-of-the-box vision moving forward is the new Big Bang Tourbillon Novak Djokovic GOAT Edition (£95,000), a watch trilogy celebrating the career achievements of brand ambassador Novak Djokovic, the greatest tennis player of all time with 24 Grand Slams, one gold medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, and a record 428 weeks as the world number one tennis player. 

The three tourbillons are fabricated from a special Hublot-developed composite made from colored Lacoste polos and Head tennis racquets (representing Djokovic’s gear) creating a lightweight, robust marbled material that is combined with Titaplast, the world’s strongest polymer with mechanical properties similar to titanium. 

The watches come in orange (clay), green (grass) and blue (hard) representing the different court surfaces on which Djokovic has won, each limited to the number of victories on each surface: currently 72 pieces in blue; 21 in orange; and eight in green.

Tornare says he explained to Djokovic, “I want Hublot to be the brand to accompany you until the last match of your career, celebrating your GOATness and the fact that you are the best tennis player of all time. As much as you win, we will continue to produce watches.” 

Currently, there are 101 watches in the series, but that can change based on Djokovic’s performance, not the brand. “It’s a very cool way to go with him all the way,” says Tornare, adding that he expects the champ to return to the Olympics in 2028. 

Following up on last year’s 20th-anniversary of the flagship Big Bang, Tornare showed the new Big Bang Original Unico, which has been rethought, reengineered and outfitted with the in-house Unico chronograph caliber, featuring an integrated column wheel, a dual-clutch architecture, a layered construction, an optimized gear train and a skeletonized tungsten rotor open-worked in the shape of an H. Available in four iterations—Titanium (£16,000), Titanium Ceramic (£16,900), Black Magic (£17,900), and King Gold Ceramic (£31,100)—the new 43mm case size seeks to strike a comfortable balance between the 41mm and 44mm versions.

“We will bring a new Big Bang at Watches and Wonders,” Tornare teases. “A new design, new development, not systematically much more complicated, but a reloaded type of booster—the Big Bang type of watch that you should like next to the original that will stay.”

In the fall, he plans to pivot to Classic Fusion, a model that pays tribute to the original Hublot from 1980, which surprisingly accounts for 50 percent of sales. “I want to go back to its roots,” says Tornare, who took inspiration from recently meeting the founder of the brand, Carlo Crocco. “I needed to meet with him and discuss it. Then, I came with what Classic Fusion should be in the future of Hublot—going back to the roots with elegance, a better movement, better finishing, new functions.

Quality over quantity is Tornare’s ethos as he establishes his goals for the Hublot of the future. “Today we are around 40,000 pieces,” he says. “I think luxury is about rarity, exclusivity, and I want to be reasonable in quantities. So, you will not see me dramatically increasing the quantity for the next few years. The main objective is upgrading the quality of the product we’re making.”