There is something about a Hublot watch that refuses to disappear quietly beneath a shirt cuff, and that, in my opinion, is precisely the point. I have had the opportunity to experience Hublot well beyond the traditional confines of the watch counter. Over the years, I have traveled with the brand and attended Hublot events in Milan, Paris, Miami, New York and even the Caribbean, experiencing firsthand how the Swiss watchmaker has built an extraordinary universe around sport, entertainment, music, culture and celebrity. I have watched the Hublot philosophy come alive through its ambassadors and friends of the brand, meeting personalities ranging from Nicky Jam and Ricky Martin to American football legend Troy Aikman, along with countless artists, musicians, athletes and cultural figures.
What struck me then, and continues to impress me now, is that Hublot has never behaved like a traditional luxury watch company. It behaves like a cultural brand. Hublot understands the energy of the room, the importance of the arrival and the power of personal presentation. It understands that for a contemporary man, particularly one operating at the highest levels of professional sports, entertainment or business, a watch is rarely just an instrument for telling time. It is part of the uniform of achievement. For the world’s top athletes, the luxury watch has arguably become one of the most powerful expressions of personal style available. The uniform may belong to the team, the sneakers may be determined by a sponsorship agreement and the equipment may be dictated by performance, but the wrist remains deeply personal territory. Hublot knows exactly what to do with it.
For professional athletes, a luxury watch is more than a status symbol—it can represent achievement, personal identity, legacy, and, in some cases, a significant store of value. According to a July 2026 study from vintage luxury retailer FashioNica, the Rolex GMT-Master II delivered a 17.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the period analyzed, compared with 10.4% for gold, while Rolex models collectively recorded an 18.6% annual growth rate. Other notable performers included the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/1A at 16.2%, the Rolex Daytona at 14.8%, the Rolex Submariner 116610 at 14.3%, and the Rolex Datejust at 13.9%.
The findings help explain why collectible watches hold particular appeal in the world of professional sports, where success, exclusivity and legacy often converge. Unlike traditional investments, a fine timepiece can be worn to celebrate career milestones and eventually passed to the next generation. As FashioNica CEO Nica Yusay noted, collectors increasingly value pieces with history and authenticity—a perspective that transforms the luxury watch from a pristine object kept in a safe into a personal artifact whose story can become part of its enduring appeal.
Source: FashioNica
From my perspective as a menswear editor, I have watched professional athletes evolve into some of the most influential forces shaping men’s fashion and watches today. These players are no longer simply ambassadors wearing a brand—they are global style leaders whose choices can influence what an entire generation of young men wants to wear. WWD recently highlighted football star Lamine Yamal’s partnership with American Eagle, a collaboration that perfectly illustrates how sports and menswear are becoming increasingly interconnected. I believe Gen Z consumers, in particular, look to athletes for authenticity, confidence and personal style, whether it is the denim they wear, the sneakers they collect, the luxury watches on their wrists or the tailoring they choose for major events. When a globally recognized athlete embraces a product, that influence can move almost instantly from the locker room and social media to retail—making professional athletes some of the most powerful tastemakers driving the future of the menswear business.
My View: Hublot Is Where Masculinity Meets Flash
From an editorial and style perspective, I have always viewed Hublot as the place where modern masculinity meets unapologetic flash. This is not quiet luxury. Hublot does not whisper; it enters the room. The cases are architectural, the materials are assertive and the silhouettes are recognizable from across a table. Color is not treated as an afterthought but as a central element of the design language, whether expressed through saturated ceramic, precious metals, technical composites or the aggressive contrast of black cases against brilliant accents. There is muscle in a Hublot watch, but there is also tremendous technical sophistication behind that visual strength.
That combination is what makes the brand particularly relevant to athletes. The psychology of professional sport is built around performance, discipline, competition and individual identity. Hublot’s strongest watches visually communicate many of those same characteristics. They are engineered objects, but they possess personality. The story began in 1980, when Hublot challenged luxury-watch conventions by pairing a precious gold case with a rubber strap, an almost provocative combination at the time. That collision between seemingly opposing materials established what would become the brand’s defining philosophy: the Art of Fusion.
Then came the Big Bang in 2005, and for me, this is when the visual vocabulary of contemporary Hublot truly became impossible to ignore. The Big Bang amplified the original philosophy through size, layered case construction, visible hardware and material experimentation. It made the mechanical watch feel culturally relevant to a new generation of collectors. The screws became part of the aesthetic, the case became architecture, the strap became fashion and the movement became part of the story.
Hublot continued its evolution by developing its mechanical capabilities, including the Unico in-house chronograph movement, alongside creations such as the Meca-10 and sophisticated tourbillon calibers. The result is a watch company operating at the intersection of traditional Swiss horology and contemporary material technology. Ceramic, carbon, sapphire, rubber and proprietary precious-metal developments can coexist within the same design universe. Skeletonized and openworked constructions expose elements of the mechanics rather than hiding them, while color can become as essential to the identity of a watch as its complication. That is why Hublot works so naturally in professional sports. These watches look engineered for people accustomed to performance.
Why Luxury Watches Matter So Much in Professional Sports
Spend enough time around elite athletes and the professional sports industry and one quickly realizes that watches occupy a particularly important place within the culture. A luxury mechanical watch represents something very different from most other status objects. For athletes, it can commemorate the contract, the championship, the record, the transfer, the first major endorsement or simply the realization that years of discipline have finally produced success. It is simultaneously jewelry, engineering and trophy.
There is also an interesting relationship between athletes and time itself. Professional sport is measured obsessively in fractions of seconds, and careers are often defined by timing. A perfectly timed pass, kick, throw or sprint can determine history. Perhaps that is one reason watches feel so perfectly at home in the world of sport. At the FIFA World Cup 2026, Hublot once again found itself at the center of that intersection between horology and athletic culture. From players and legendary former footballers to coaches and stars from other sporting disciplines, prominent figures were seen wearing some of the brand’s most recognizable creations.
These were my standout Hublot wrist moments.
1. Álex Baena — Spanish National Team Midfielder
Watch: Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Black Magic Diamonds
Álex Baena brought a distinctly glamorous edge to the sporting arena with the Spirit of Big Bang Black Magic Diamonds. The piece represents one of the reasons I find Hublot fascinating from a fashion perspective. Black creates strength and visual authority, while diamonds completely change the conversation. On an athlete, that contrast is powerful. The Spirit of Big Bang’s tonneau-inspired architecture already has a muscular presence, and adding diamonds creates an intentional collision between sport and high jewelry. This is not about blending in; it is performance luxury designed to be noticed.
2. Kylian Mbappé — French Football Icon and Hublot Ambassador
Watch: Hublot Big Bang Reloaded Kylian Mbappé White Ceramic
Few athletes today embody the relationship between global sport and luxury branding as naturally as Kylian Mbappé. His personalized Big Bang Reloaded Kylian Mbappé White Ceramic feels particularly appropriate. White ceramic gives a substantial sports watch an almost futuristic clarity and, against the wrist, it has an immediate visual impact while maintaining the technological character associated with modern Hublot. Mbappé’s relationship with the brand goes beyond simply wearing a watch. The collaborative nature of the piece allows the timepiece to function as an extension of personal identity. That is where modern luxury is heading: the most influential athletes no longer simply endorse products; they help shape them.
3. Patrick Mahomes — American Football Superstar and Hublot Ambassador
Watch: Hublot Big Bang 20th Anniversary Red Magic
Patrick Mahomes represents something particularly significant for Hublot: the ability of the brand to cross sporting cultures. Football, or soccer to American audiences, has historically been deeply connected to Hublot’s global sporting identity, yet Mahomes demonstrates how naturally the brand translates into American professional athletics. The Big Bang 20th Anniversary Red Magic is exactly the kind of watch I would expect to see on an athlete of his profile. Red is energy, competition and confidence, and on a large-format Hublot, it becomes almost impossible to ignore. Mahomes wearing the piece illustrates why Hublot has found such resonance with contemporary athletes. The watch has the presence required to complement, rather than compete with, the personality of a superstar.
4. Luís Figo — Portuguese Football Legend and Hublot Friend of the Brand
Watch: Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Tourbillon 5-Day Power Reserve Sky Blue Ceramic
Luís Figo represents the connection between sporting legacy and serious watchmaking. His Spirit of Big Bang Tourbillon 5-Day Power Reserve Sky Blue Ceramic combines a highly distinctive color story with one of mechanical watchmaking’s most prestigious complications. This is where Hublot becomes particularly interesting. From a distance, the color attracts the eye; up close, the mechanical sophistication holds the attention. Sky-blue ceramic also represents the type of material-and-color experimentation that has become central to Hublot’s identity. For a former player whose name remains synonymous with an extraordinary era of European football, it is a watch with both presence and pedigree.
5. Didier Deschamps — Coach of the French National Team and Hublot Friend of the Brand
Watch: Hublot Big Bang Reloaded Blue Ceramic 44 mm
A coach requires a different type of authority, and Didier Deschamps‘ Big Bang Reloaded Blue Ceramic 44 mm delivers exactly that. Blue ceramic offers a sophisticated alternative to traditional black while maintaining the technical, contemporary quality that defines the Big Bang. At 44 mm, the watch has presence and looks decisive. In an environment where coaches are increasingly public figures, photographed arriving at stadiums, attending press conferences and standing on the sidelines before audiences of millions, the watch becomes an important part of the professional wardrobe.
6. Roberto Martínez — International Football Coach
Watch: Hublot Classic Fusion Aerofusion Moonphase King Gold
Roberto Martínez offers another side of the Hublot personality. The Classic Fusion Aerofusion Moonphase King Gold is more restrained than the most extroverted Big Bang creations, but restraint does not mean anonymity. Here, refinement takes priority. The warm character of King Gold brings traditional luxury into conversation with Hublot’s modern design philosophy, while the moonphase complication adds an element of classical horological romance. For executives, coaches and sporting professionals who prefer sophistication over overt visual aggression, the Classic Fusion family demonstrates the remarkable breadth of Hublot’s portfolio.
7. Guillermo Ochoa — Mexican Goalkeeper
Watch: Hublot Classic Fusion FMF Titanium
Guillermo Ochoa’s Classic Fusion FMF Titanium connects national football identity with contemporary watch design. Titanium is an especially appropriate material within the sporting world: modern, lightweight in character and industrial in appearance. On the wrist of an elite goalkeeper, the association feels natural. There is also symbolic value in a watch connected to Hublot’s relationship with Mexican football. For athletes representing their countries on the world’s largest stages, objects connected to national identity can take on meaning far beyond their material value.
The Final Whistle
The FIFA World Cup may ultimately be decided by goals, but beyond the pitch another competition is always taking place: the competition for style. Today’s greatest athletes are global luxury consumers, cultural influencers and increasingly sophisticated collectors. Their choices resonate far beyond stadium walls, and watches remain one of the clearest signals of that evolution.
For me, Hublot has understood this cultural shift better than most. The brand did not simply place watches on athletes; it inserted itself into the emotional ecosystem of sport, from the stadium and the celebration to the victory, the personality and the wrist. From the revolutionary pairing of gold and rubber in 1980 to the Big Bang, Unico and today’s extraordinary experiments with ceramic, color and complications, Hublot has continually challenged the idea of what a serious Swiss luxury watch is supposed to look like.
That rebelliousness is precisely why the brand works, especially in sport. Athletes do not become legends by disappearing into the crowd, and neither does Hublot. At Hublot, masculinity meets mechanics, performance meets flash, and when the world’s greatest athletes want their wrists to do the talking, the message is impossible to miss.
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