Hublot Brings Back Their Icon, The Classic Fusion, Now Called The Tributo

In 1980, Carlo Crocco put a slim gold watch on a black rubber strap, lined the bezel with 12 screws and sold it under the MDM Genève name. It did well enough that the watch’s name, Hublot, became the company’s and an icon was born. Now, whatever you may think of Hublot now – and I love them for the most part – there's no denying that this watch, which later became the Classic Fusion, is one of the most iconic watches in the business. Over the years, Hublot has reissued that watch many times in many configrations. There was a chunky 45mm variant with six bezel screws and a variant that came in at 42mm and 38mm with Sellita movements. This one, however, is a bit different. Because it's really good. The new Hublot Classic Fusion Tributo measures 38mm, it has the original 12 screws on the bezel and it has a pretty good movement inside.

The case is 38mm wide and 9.5mm thick, 2mm bigger than the 1980 quartz original. The yellow gold version mixes polished and satin surfaces, while the white gold is all polished. The 12 bezel screws are H-shaped, made out of titanium and still work as hour markers. On the gold model, the screws are black plated. On the side is a screw down crown that gives you 100 meters of water resistance.

Since the screws on the bezel have traditionally been used as hour markers, there are no indices on this variant either. The yellow gold model gets matte black lacquer with a gold MDM signature at six. The white gold gets polished black onyx with the signature in silver. Both have a date at three in white on a black disc, plus an H-shaped counterweight on the seconds hand.

Inside is the calibre HUB1711, built by Zenith on its Elite 670 base. It beats at 4Hz with a 60-hour power reserve. Through the sapphire caseback you see an openworked H-shaped rotor in 22k gold on the yellow model and black tungsten on the white. The strap is ribbed black rubber with a folding clasp in gold and black-plated steel.

The Hublot Classic Fusion Tributo isn't limited and it's priced at €30,200 in either metal. Quite a lot of money, yes. See more on the Hublot website.