Founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco, MDM Geneva has defied convention from its conception. Born in Milan to a watchmaking family, Carlo Crocco designed his first watch in 1967. The original concept for the watches he designed was that they had to transcend fashion and be sporty yet elegant. He found his inspiration in a ship?s porthole, or ?hublot? in French, and a new type of watch was born. Hublot was the first watch company to put a rubber strap on a watch made of noble materials, a trend which quickly spread throughout the watch industry. The difference being that Hublot spent three years developing their bracelet, resulting in a cutting-edge material that was resistant to sweat, corrosion and scratching, with woven steel reinforcement and a slight vanilla scent, which to this day is unique to Hublot. To complement this strap Hublot also developed the concealed double deployant clasp, another innovation which can now be found throughout the industry. In 2004 Carlo Crocco decided to devote more of his time to his MDM Foundation, which helps underprivileged children around the world, and asked Jean-Claude Biver to join the company as CEO. 2005 marks the 25th anniversary of Hublot, and with Jean-Claude Biver at the helm, the company has a new-found vigor, taking the original concept of the ?fusion? of noble and industrial materials to an even higher level.