Undoubtedly, the Place Vendôme is becoming a true LVMH location. I will not mention the large flagship store which opened its gates a few weeks ago. But in less than one week, I attended two events which were organized around one of the most famous squares in the world. I presented you the inauguration party of the Zenith boutique last week. Yesterday I was back at the Hôtel d'Evreux to participate to a party organized by Hublot with Berluti with the objective to unveil two new pieces created in the context of the partnership between the two brands. Hublot and the Place Vendôme, it is not an unknown story since the Hublot boutique has started to operate at this prestigious location 6 years ago.

Same square but not the same type of event: with Zenith the promotion of the boutique was the top priority. With Hublot, I felt that we were in a different world with almost 200 guests invited for a cocktail and a seated dinner without forgetting the presence of several very well known guests. Hublot is a big and profitable contributor to the watches & jewelry division of LVMH and I could feel it once again.

Hublot presented a model in 2016 developped jointly with Berluti in order to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the famous shoemaker which took place in 2015. The key feature of this watch was the use of a dial made of leather reproducing faithfully the texture and pattern of the Berluti shoes. This piece of leather was dried in order to avoid any oxidation of the movement and encapsulated to be protected and to become stable. After the initial Classic Fusion, a Chronograph was released. And of course, yesterday's event was a good pretext to unveil another piece... but this time, in a different price segment.

I propose you to accompany me to discover the key moments of the event.

Beyond the partnership between Hublot and Berluti, the main topic of the event was to highlight the Art of Fusion. Fusion of materials of course and this idea was the main principle used by Jean-Claude Biver to give to the brand a new dynamic. The concept of fusion was previously created by Carlo Crocco, Jean-Claude Biver managed to use it with a more powerful effect.



Champagne for all the guests!



A large structure was displaying the key watches of the collection in one of the rooms of the Hôtel d'Evreux:



How lucky I was! I was welcomed by Ricardo Guadalupe, CEO and Benoît Lecigne who is at the head of so many countries that I don't remember the comprehensive list. But France is within his scope of responsibilities.



Champagne... again!



The spectacular view on the Place Vendôme from the Hôtel d'Evreux:



One member of the Hublot staff was wearing the Hublot Big Bang Unico Golf. This watch is also very important for Hublot. I like its inventive side and its useful complication dedicated to Golf. Perfect if you are a good player because things become more complicated if you need more than 100 shots to play the full course!
 


The first Classic Fusion taking advantage of the partnership between Hublot and Berluti:



The Berluti craftsman was creating a beautiful patina on this pair of shoes:



Not a Hublot clock! But at least we realized that they were an old link between the Hôtel d'Evreux and the watch industry!



Another guest was wearing this Classic Fusion Aerofusion Moonphase and in pink gold, my fav version!



At the end of the cocktail,  we moved to the Salle des Tirages which is decorated with lottery machines and a spectacular glass ceiling. More than 15 tables were set up to host the guests for the seated dinner.



Here was my table!



The menu of the event. The French vocabulary is very wide and complex when it comes to cuisine. Sometimes, even myself I don't understand some words and sentences.



Between the dinner courses, Hublot organized speeches and a show by a magician. Ricardo Guadalupe explained the reasons behind the successful growth of Hublot and the concept of Fusion. He also reminded to the guests than the current turnover of the company is 20 times larger than it was when Jean-Claude Biver and himself took it over.



And... the two new watches were unveiled! You can notice the lottery machines on the background. Antoine Pin, Vice-President of Berluti was happy to discover the hologram of the new pieces.



I was waiting to see them in the metal.. but I could wait with a lot of patience thanks to the dessert!



And Justine broke the chocolate structure with the wood hammer:



Finally, the watches came to our table!

Both are very difficult to shoot.

The first one is the Hublot Classic Fusion Tourbillon Berluti Scritto King Gold. It is my fav version.

I find it luminous and the specific texture of the dial seems to me more appealing with this range of colors. To be honest, when the Hublot team told me at the beginning of the event that the price range would be much higher than the previous Hublot x Berluti pieces, I was ready to bet that the novelties would be tourbillon watches.

I don't know if it is a good idea to make a large opening in the leather dial since you alter a bit the concept. Moreover, I'm not sure that the "Scritto" style is the best for this Berluti dial. The  Scritto pattern needs a large surface to be fully visually efficient.

Anyway, even if I'm not convinced by the outcome, the watch offers the traditional Hublot qualities: a very serious approach, the comfort on the wrist and a very legible dial.



This is the Hublot Classic Fusion Tourbillon Berluti Scritto All Black. It is in the end the more subtle version. It offers a good compromise for clients who look for the Berluti atmosphere with a more discreet approach. With the all black atmosphere, the Hublot side seems to win wile with the King Gold version, I felt the opposite: it was for me a very Berluti watch.

The case diameter is 45mm but, as usual, the watch looks a bit smaller due to the large bezel and the case design. Obviously, the feeling is reinforced by the dominant black color.



But even with a black strap, the Berluti details remain very visible and I would say legible:



It is after all a matter of taste. I'm not a big fan of these Berluti watches and I much prefer pieces from Hublot like the Techframe, the Meca-10 or an Unico Ferrari. But I can understand that the Berluti fans or the people who look for an original interpretation of the Art of Fusion can be seduced by this approach and the unique style of these pieces.

More technical details about the two Hublot novelties are available in Todd's post:
www.watchprosite.com

I would like to thank a lot the Hublot team for the great event and the perfect organization.

Fr.Xavier