Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe could not be more pleased with the iconic watchmaker's new boutique in the Galleria. Since opening only three weeks ago, the company has already sold 10 uber chic watches with uber price tags and the grand opening isn't until next month. Proof positive of H-Town's soaring economy.
So popular is the Swiss watch brand among a certain privileged Houston clientele that on the night of an intimate dinner in the bar at Tony's, an Hublot (pronounced ew-blow) aficionado bought the watch right off the wrist of Hublot president Rick de la Croix. The Big Bang Unico King Gold prices out at $43,600. The buyer's female dinner partner was already sporting a heavenly timepiece from the boutique.
"The boldness and brashness of the Big Bang just seems like a Texas thing," Guadalupe noted with enthusiasm as he sipped on a glass of buttery chardonnay, priced at $170 a bottle.
Let's just say the collection of dreamy luxury watches on display surpassed $160,000.
It was just that kind of night, a grand, no-expense spared dinner party that served as Guadalupe's introduction to Houston. Before sitting down at the single lengthy table set for two dozen, the Hublot team welcomed a larger contingent for a cocktail party, also in Tony's bar. Throughout the night, a very serious security guard kept a watchful eye on the two vitrines that displayed six of the watches ranging in price from the Big Bang Steel Shiny at $19,400 to the Big Bang Gold Shiny at $40,100.
Let's just say the collection of dreamy luxury watches on display surpassed $160,000.
The CEO was pumped about the watchmaker's recent association with Jay-Z, and noted that they dined together last week in Zurich, Hublot corporate headquarters, and again on Monday before a Zurich concert. The Shawn Carter by Hublot watch, unveiled only last Sunday, retails for close to $34,000 but 25 percent of the cost will go to the Shawn Carter Foundation. And that charitable commitment was another part of Guadalupe's message to dinner guests. Philanthropy is integral in the various communities (10 in the United States) where there are stores.
The association with Jay-Z, Guadalupe explained, was a natural extension of the brand's outreach to sports and celebrity figures. As he told The Journal, “After having been the first luxury watch brand to enter the world of soccer as Timekeeper of the World Cup in 2010, the first to enter basketball with the partnership with Miami Heat and the LA Lakers, the first luxury watch brand to have partnered with Ferrari, we are now the first luxury watch brand to become a partner of one of the icons of music. Together with Jay-Z, we believe that we have always been the first, different and unique.”
Among those lucky ones sitting down to the four-course dinner from Tony's majestic kitchen were John and Becca Cason Thrash (both wearing Hublot watches), Laura Mudd, Sabiha Rehmatullah, Pablo D'Agostino, Gregory Fourticq, Holly Moore and Libby Cagle.
Oren Agai, from left, Marva Bradshaw and Holland Vavra let the good times roll at the Hublot dinner party at Tony's.
Katie Dillon, David Foster, Katherine McPhee, and Lisa McCoy.
Photo by Jenny Antill; Courtesy of Texas Children’s Hospital