Love chid of a Nautilus and RO??

[SearChart]

The Hublot classic fusion is the only one I sort of like, the rest is definitely not my style.

[bondtoys]

The classic Hublot (model name) by MDM (company name) was like that



for almost 3 decades and noone screamed "fake, fake".

I can see many design elements still in the newer Hublots (now company name) from that time.

So, Mr. Biver has gotten it pretty right:

- Hublot is a porthole and these often feature bolts/rivets/screws (also before the Royal Oak was designed)*
- Hublot started with rubber straps long before AP and Patek did that

- Nautilus/Aquanaut share the designer and some main design elements
Other Companies, that followed the Luxury Sports Watch concept share some of the Genta Design elements.

There are still some Elements from the MDM times left (rubber straps, bezel screws, the "ears" at 3 and 9) with the modern Hublots.

*

[improviz]

The Hublot you show in your picture made its debut at Basel in 1980, a full eight years after the RO was introduced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hublot

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.[2] 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 excess of $2m in its first year.[

As to straps: whoopee, they copied the idea from Rolex, who did rubber straps back in the 1960s (google "Rolex tropical strap").

[bondtoys]

Well, my point was:

1. for almost 30 years, noone complained that MDM copied the Royal Oak though the Royal Oak came first.
2. The design of the pothole with the rivets/ screws is much older than any luxury watch
3. Hublot used rubber straps way earlier than AP and Patek , Rolex tried in the 60 ( but not a plain strap) but did not continue.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of Hublot but everyone copies everyone when it comes to watches and it's a bit funny that Hublot is blamed for everything and the other big 2 always have been the real stuff.

[subtona]

Originally Posted by bondtoys

Well, my point was:

1. for almost 30 years, noone complained that MDM copied the Royal Oak though the Royal Oak came first.
2. The design of the pothole with the rivets/ screws is much older than any luxury watch
3. Hublot used rubber straps way earlier than AP and Patek , Rolex tried in the 60 ( but not a plain strap) but did not continue.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of Hublot but everyone copies everyone when it comes to watches and it's a bit funny that Hublot is blamed for everything and the other big 2 always have been the real stuff.

hublot started with the porthole and then added the ears, taking a bit from AP and a bit from Patek.

biggest point imho is Gerald Genta designed both the AP and the Nautilus after portholes, he did not get hired nor compensated by Hublot.

true it is done in many places and it is found to be wrong in many courts.

i happen to agree that it is not OK to knock off someone elses idea… Hublot did it with exactly enough change so they couldn't successfully be sued.

[improviz]

Point is, the Hublot Big Bang(and the Linde Werdelin) bear more than a passing resemblance to the ROO, and the earlier Hublot stuff, while not a ringer for the RO, clearly took some design elements from it, if you watch the interview with Biver he says this outright.

Having said that, if people like 'em, want to buy 'em, I say go for it and enjoy, would be a dull world if everyone wore the same thing, but for me it's the original porthole watch. :)

[bondtoys]

How about Cartier:



Didn't Genta rip the old idea with the screws from the Santos?
Or did Cartier rip from AP by making their screw bezels octagonal after AP did it?

[bondtoys]

Originally Posted by subtona

hublot started with the porthole and then added the ears,

Hublot had the ears right from the beginning.

[subtona]

Originally Posted by bondtoys

Hublot had the ears right from the beginning.

ok doesn't change the rest

[SearChart]

The Hublot above does not have ears mate.

[bondtoys]

highlighted the ears for you:

[Abdullasaif]

I actually do own a hublot big band and ill sell it eventually, i dont like it too much its too top heavy even when i tighten the strap down i have nothing positive to say about the movement, the dial is completely flat just painted over, when i tilt the watch at a certain angle i can see the date and the number above it which drives me crazy. The only thing i like about it is the colors used for the watch.

[SearChart]

Originally Posted by bondtoys

highlighted the ears for you:

Thanks, they were quite hard to see.

[Rozay]

I'm a fan I gotta say, my screws do match up and i've had nothing but compliments from people on both watches....

still have time for my rolex yachtmaster platinum though so all good

[Snow-Dweller]

Hublot does nothing for me at all.

[SMD]

Originally Posted by bondtoys

How about Cartier:



Didn't Genta rip the old idea with the screws from the Santos?
Or did Cartier rip from AP by making their screw bezels octagonal after AP did it?

Santos introduced the screws in 1978.

http://monochrome-watches.com/histor...r-santos-1904/