ABOUT TIME The first physical Watches and Wonders Geneva took place at the end of March, marking the return of the big, razzle-dazzle watch show – and the largest horologic event ever held in Geneva. The luxury end of the watch sector enjoyed its best ever year in 2021, with Switzerland exporting £18.3 billion worth of watches in 2021, trumping the record set in 2014. Indeed, watches priced at more than £2,500 grew by almost 10 per cent, year-on-year. These were the most noteworthy timepieces from an industry that emerged from the pandemic seemingly unscathed.
HUBLOT SQUARES THE CIRCLE
On the rare occasion that a brand gets ballsy and decides to bring out a right-angled watch, that watch seems to have a disproportionally high chance of developing into something of an icon. Take, for example – and there aren’t that many examples out there – Cartier’s Santos, TAG Heuer’s Monaco, and Bell & Ross’ BR 01. All distinct for their four-sided cases. All having developed into collectors’ favourites and cornerstones of their respective brands.
T H E C H I E F TA L K I N G P O I N T S F R O M
WATC H E S A N D WO N D E R S G E N E VA 2 0 2 2
Words:
Richard Brown
Hoping its foray into four-sided timepieces will garner a similar cult-like status is Hublot, which used Watches and Wonders Geneva to lift the lid on its Square Bang Unico. Based on the brand’s bread-and-butter Big Bang, the boxy new Unico features the same sandwich construction as its circular sibling, the same six screws on its bezel and the same screweddown ‘ears’ at its sides. An icon in the making? Time will tell. hublot.com
