During the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition, OHLALA had the opportunity to speak once again with David Tedeschi, Hublot’s Managing Director for Middle East, Africa and Latin America. He explains why 2025 is a special year for the brand.
OHLALA – Last time we spoke, you were Hublot’s Regional Director, and now you hold the position of Managing Director of Hublot Middle East, Africa and Latin America. What has changed in your role in the company?
David Tedeschi – Operation-wise and on a day-to-day basis, it’s not a big difference. At the end of the day, it’s just an update of the title. But I would say that what really changed was the level of empowerment in decisionmaking. Because when you are Managing Director, you can sign bigger budgets, you can make decisions on your own without getting approval from HQ and so on. I would say that you have more power in decisionmaking, which is something that is quite appreciable. I am celebrating 17 years at Hublot, so it’s great to hold this position now.
OHLALA – What is your take on 2024 for Hublot?
David – We call 2024 the year of normalisation because we believe that 2021, 2022 and 2023 were really abnormal compared to the reality and the size of the business. I would say that overall, we are very happy with the performance of the brand in the region. But 2024 was a difficult year, I believe, for the whole luxury industry scene and not only the watchmaking industry, but we’re ready to bounce back in 2025 and bring some positive things. And 2025 is a very important year for the brand because we’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of our Big Bang Collection, which is our most iconic line. It is a very important collection for us, a pillar of our brand.
OHLALA – In our last conversation, you mentioned that you wanted to focus more on highlighting the brand’s expertise in movement innovation. How has this approach been carried out?
David – We want to be seen on the watchmaking scene as an innovative brand. I believe that we have demonstrated this quite well with our approach to tailoring and creating new materials that didn’t exist before. But also, in terms of innovation of movement, this year we’re coming with the new Meca-10 movement. It’s really important for us to work on new movements, but it takes time. For us, it takes us at least two years to come up with a new movement because we have all the conception phase of the movement, but after we have all the validation, the homologation and the testing of the movement, then we want to make sure that before putting something on the market, the movement cannot have any problems, no hiccups. We just launched the Big Bang Meca-10, but other exciting creations will also be launched throughout the year.
OHLALA – You joined the Hublot team in 2008. Can you briefly tell us what is the major difference you see between then and now?
David – When I joined the brand in 2008, I started one month before LVMH purchased Hublot. So obviously, during the first years of Hublot under LVMH, there was an adaptation time; now, we are fully integrated into the LVMH group and into its operation. So, it’s amazing to see the difference between what we used to be before and what we are now with the support of the group. It has created opportunities that maybe Hublot wouldn’t have without being part of LVMH. When I started at Hublot, we were 41 employees. Today, we have over a thousand employees worldwide and more than doubled the size of our production. I also believe that our philosophy is completely different from the other watch brands; we are a big family, and we work as a family. I think this is also why we are quite agile and flexible in doing things and successful in doing that, of course.
OHLALA – Who is the Hublot customer?
David – Someone that is like Hublot, that doesn’t do things like everyone else, that has their own spirit and philosophy, that can be quite provocative sometimes as well. People who are bold, unique and know what they want. This is what we like about our customers; they align with the brand’s values. And the particularity of our Middle Eastern customers is that the share of sales is almost equal between men and women. We are very strong with women, which could be surprising because we are always perceived as a men’s brand; we are not a jewellery brand, let’s say. I believe we know how to tease them and make them thrive for our products. For instance, in December 2024, we launched a dedicated ladies’ collection with a set of natural pearls from Qatar. The pearls come from the lifetime collection of the Al Majed family and are sold exclusively to the Al Majed distribution network.
OHLALA – Which is your favourite Hublot watch?
David – From the actual collection or that we ever produced? Because these are two different things. My favourite Hublot watch ever is the King Power Unico. It was the first all-black watch version we launched with our Unico Manufacture movement. This was in 2011, and I remember the year clearly because previously, I used to be on the technical side at Hublot, and I was part of the team working on the development of the Unico movement. This is why this watch is particularly dear to me. And from the actual collection, I would say that the one that I really love is not a watch that you would think is a Hublot at first sight, but when you look at it closely, you understand that it is. It’s the MP10 that we launched last year at the LVMH Watch Week in Miami. It has a very innovative movement with a very particular type of winding, a recharging system with a linear oscillating weight instead of having a rotative one like most watches. I fell in love with that watch the day we launched it. Unfortunately, it’s sold out. I couldn’t get one for me.
OHLALA – What is the highlight for 2025?
David – The Big Bang Anniversary Collection, which will be launched during Watches & Wonders Geneva this year. It’s going to be the focus of our communication this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Big Bang.