Swiss Best UK Replica Hublot Watches’ New CEO Promises A Return To The Brand’s Radical Roots
With a career in luxury 1:1 replica watches spanning two decades, Julien Tornare has established a reputation as the go-to man for revitalising and growing a brand.
During his six years at Zenith he almost doubled the company’s sales from CHF 75 million to CHF 120 million, primarily focusing on balancing brand heritage and innovation, streamlining the product offering and modernising certain areas of the business including boutique concepts and digital presence.
In his short tenure at TAG Heuer, Tornare continued his approach of blending heritage with modern flair, breathing new life into classic designs while planning for the long term.
While at Zenith, he had to rebuild the brand’s identity and product line almost from scratch, at TAG Heuer, his focus was on elevating an already strong brand by showcasing its high-end watchmaking capabilities alongside its more accessible offerings.
Now at Hublot, Tornare faces a whole new set of challenges and opportunities compared to his previous roles as he aims to revitalise the brand and strengthen its unique position in the luxury AAA fake watches market at a time when Hublot – along with most of the watch industry – has experienced a decline in sales.
His goal is, therefore, to explore new frontiers in watchmaking while maintaining Hublot’s reputation for breaking design codes and communication barriers.
“Back in 2005, Hublot shook the industry and everyone recognises how important that was for watchmaking in general. It has been quite calm recently and we have to bring back the things that were happening a few years ago. Back in the day, the ad campaigns were insane, the Baselworld booth animation was absolutely crazy. Even points of sales were unique with hologram high quality copy watches and Raptor display cases. I feel Hublot has to take this direction again, fuelling the brand with new ideas and new executions.”
Julien Tornare
Tornare says that he will focus on strengthening key pillars like the perfect 2025 replica Hublot Classic Fusion and Big Bang models watches, balancing Hublot’s edgy designs with Swiss watchmaking traditions and continuing Hublot’s partnerships with athletes and artists.
Describing himself as “more of a transformer”, he says he will be actively involved in the brand’s operations and strategy implementation, navigating the challenges of a softening watch market while maintaining top UK fake Hublot watches‘ premium status and reputation, leveraging the brand’s strengths while addressing its recent performance decline.
Perhaps more associated with classical brands – before Zenith, Tornare also spent 17 years at Vacheron Constantin – there is no doubt that he relishes the chance to head down a more experimental path.
“I have only been CEO for about four months, but before that I always kept an eye on Hublot,” he says. “I am close to Jean-Claude [Biver, the watchmaking supremo that made Hublot into a luxury force to be reckoned with] and Ricardo [Guadalupe, Hublot CEO 2012-2024 and now honorary president]. I may still be learning all the small details, but overall, I know the brand well, and I know what I want to do with it, as well as what I need to do to get there.”
As for his experience across the LVMH watchmaking landscape, there seems to have been something of a deliberate path to Hublot.
“It wasn’t planned as such, but once I had been at Zenith for more than five years, I started to talk to Stéphane Bianchi [then LVMH’s head of Watches & Jewellery division, but as of this year, LVMH’s group managing director and chairman of the executive committee] about the future and my next challenge,” says Tornare.
“It felt time for me to evolve and grow in a new brand and I was open to different things. I had often discussed Hublot because I always liked it, and felt I understood it very well.”
At the time, however, Guadalupe was still CEO of cheap online Hublot replica watches and so, in early 2024, Tornare agreed to take on the top role at TAG Heuer, which was vacant due to Frédéric Arnault moving up to division level.
But when it was announced in June 2024 that Guadalupe would be stepping down, Tornare’s interest was piqued – although he confesses to having concerns about leaving TAG Heuer so soon.
“If you look at my career path, I’ve always stayed a long time with each brand. I don’t like jumping after a few months or a few short years. That’s not really my style,” he says.
Eventually, Tornare was won over, seduced no doubt, by a job description that could have been written with him in mind.
Basically, it was felt that Hublot super clone watches for sale should be run by someone who knew the industry, ideally Swiss or culturally linked to the Swiss community, someone who knew high end clients and how to treat them, and someone with a track record in transformation.
“It was creating a new future for Hublot that really interested me,” Tornare says. “Frédéric was the CEO of TAG Heuer right before me and my job there was really about continuity, but at Hublot, I need to bring new things – innovation, creativity, surprise. It took me less than 48 hours to accept the job there. I have always worked with more traditional brands – although I have always tried to make them more contemporary – so this is a real challenge. But now, for the first time, I cannot lean on history and heritage.”
With the suggestion that Hublot has been a somewhat quieter brand of late, Tornare becomes animated. “You are right! Back in 2005, it shook the industry and everyone recognises how important that was for watchmaking in general. It has been quite calm recently and we have to bring back the things that were happening a few years ago. Back in the day, the ad campaigns were insane, the Baselworld booth animation was absolutely crazy. Even points of sales were unique with hologram replica watches wholesale site and Raptor display cases. I feel Hublot has to take this direction again, fuelling the brand with new ideas and new executions.”
But the shock factor has to have real watchmaking substance and delivering both simultaneously is Tornare’s main goal.
“Under Mr Biver, Hublot was a successful, incredible marketing machine, but the watchmaking substance at that beginning was a bit weak. It caught up quickly with the Unico, the Meca-10, and other high-end movements. But I think we can still go further with the technical foundation of the brand, from the basic Classic Fusion to the most complicated piece, I want to make it so that nobody can say we don’t use the right movement for this or for that.
“I want it to be super serious, super high skill and high end, but on top of that, in terms of marketing, we will bring back the edge that made Hublot legendary. And I think that once these are in place, the sky is the limit for the brand. I’m really sure about it and my roadmap is very clear.”
“Our retail partners have given great feedback that I must listen to because those people know the brand by heart. They know what made it successful and what made it more of a challenge at times.”
Julien Tornare
But as any seller of copy watches paypal knows, perhaps the most important part of making a sale is the emotional connection between watch and buyer and Tornare says that this is an area he wants to build on going forward.
“A real highlight for me is how emotional Hublot is as a brand rather than being purely rational,” he explains. “Something that used to be incredibly strong about ten years ago was the Hublotista community. Clients were part of the Hublot family – Mr Biver would host them at his farm and send them his cheese.
“That kind of activation and proximity to the end client is something that got a little bit lost, but I want to reactivate it starting with a letter that I sent in 2024 to every single owner that we have in our database introducing myself to them. And next year I’m going to do a Hublotista World Tour to meet everyone in person and to talk about the future. I’m very close to the market, I like spending time with the team as well as the customers, and it is important to me to get everybody on board with the new Hublot.”
But when it comes to this ‘new Hublot’, what exactly does Tornare envision? “We are bringing back that startup spirit that Hublot replica watches UK store was known for during the first years of the brand. They had to bring new ideas on product, marketing, events, point of sales and so on. We have to bring this back so that we constantly surprise people. That has been a little bit less obvious in the brand over the last few years. Our retail partners have given great feedback that I must listen to because those people know the brand by heart. They know what made it successful and what made it more of a challenge at times.
“Today, the luxury business is struggling. That’s something we cannot control. But sometimes when you have a tough environment, it is the best moment to look at your brand and identify the things you need to improve. In 2022, our vision was blurred but now we can see things that could have been done differently. While sales are down, it is the ideal time to experiment and see what works.”
So as we head into Hublot’s new phase, we can expect a mix of continuity in the form of brand partnerships – football, culture (“I met an artist in New York last year that I think will be incredible for the brand and I am hoping to announce soon”) and Tornare is hoping to go back into the world of music in a big way with the possibility of a new ambassador coming very soon – as well as an injection of full-on adrenaline when it comes to presentation.
“The Watches and Wonders booth will be very different from the ones you’ve seen over the past few years,” says Tornare.
“We are celebrating 20 years of the Big Bang and we need a booth to match this moment. This year, we have to make Geneva explode!
“Hublot is a very different brand from all the others around and this makes it more demanding, but we have a very clear vision on where we are going. So, yes it may be a challenge in the short term, but I think once we give Swiss made Hublot fake watches back its dynamism it will fly. I’m very confident. I feel like I have found my place and am grateful for the opportunity.”