Hublot's own reputation for disruption is matched only by the K-pop artist, whose group and solo successes have set records that few have matched (All photos: Hublot)
Julien Tornare is not a man given to idle boasts. So, when the Hublot CEO let slip last year that “something big will happen in 2026”, the watch industry promptly took note and, for the most part, misread the signs. No one, it is safe to say, had Jeon Jung-kook — known professionally as Jung Kook of BTS, the South Korean boy band that conquered K-pop and made believers out of an entire generation — on their bingo card.
Seoul was still shaking off the last of winter when the chief executive settled into an opulent suite at the Josun Palace hotel, tucked in the heart of the city’s ritzy Gangnam district. Visibly animated, he had the air of a player harbouring a good hand — and rightly so, with the evening’s announcement of a new global ambassador waiting in the wings.
“You can’t deny that Jung Kook is one of the most influential artists of his generation,” asserts Tornare.
Within weeks of taking the reins in September 2024, the CEO and his team had already set their sights on the 28-year-old sensation known to fans as the “Golden Maknae” — the youngest member of BTS celebrated for his all-round talent, who has topped worldwide charts with solo releases and scorched through fashion spreads with a string of Calvin Klein ads. The courtship spanned 18 months, but the partnership is intended to extend well beyond commercial considerations.
“Hublot has long been involved in sport by enlisting elite athletes — from football legend Kylian Mbappé and tennis champion Novak Djokovic to sprinting titan Usain Bolt — while also cultivating a firm presence in the creative sphere, marked by crossovers with designer Samuel Ross and innovator Daniel Arsham. But what are the other drivers of emotion? Music,” says Tornare.
“We wanted to find the right personality and, today, K-pop is a fantastic playground. When I moved to Asia, Korean culture was still burgeoning. Over time, its reach has expanded internationally. [Appointing an ambassador from this region] carries real resonance. These young talents are strong, representing diverse skills and identities — the Art of Fusion, if you will — that we also embody.”
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The connection, as it happens, had crossed before anyone was keeping score. When Jung Kook took the stage in Doha to perform Dreamers at the opening ceremony of 2022 Fifa World Cup Qatar — Hublot’s moment as much as football’s, given its long-standing role as official timekeeper — something, perhaps unknowingly, had begun. Four years on, the encounter evolved into a formal affiliation, with the singer bringing the technical acuity of a consummate performer, magnetism of a generational icon and an instinct for craftsmanship that, in Tornare’s view, speaks directly to the watchmaker’s guiding philosophies.
“It’s not just because I listen to Dynamite a lot with my kids,” he admits with a laugh. “Generating buzz in South Korea is only one piece of the puzzle; the real goal is creating a wave that ripples outside the country.”
Tornare leans in, citing a recent headline that underscores the sheer geopolitical weight of a superstar he just signed. “I read that Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo made a diplomatic request to her South Korean counterpart Lee Jae-myung whether he could help arrange more BTS concert dates in Mexico City. Imagine the influence and force of a phenomenal group performing 79 shows across 34 cities on a single comeback tour beginning in April.”
For all the fanfare, however, Tornare’s approach is more exacting than opportunistic. In a landscape where deals are often brokered on follower counts and market traction alone, the question of who encapsulates a brand’s DNA remains one of the most consequential — and frequently underestimated — a leader can face. Misalignment in values, lapses in judgement or the pull of a passing fad can be as costly as any failed campaign. What endures, invariably, is not the scale of the association but its authenticity; the kind of friendship that develops independent of any contract. That sincerity often reveals itself unannounced, just as when Mbappé turned up at Dubai Watch Week of his own accord, simply because he wanted to. With Jung Kook, it was the “level of hunger”, the drive that belied his megawatt stature, that sealed it.
“When I heard about his motivation and attitude towards his career, I thought, ‘Okay, he is the one.’”
The feeling, as it turns out, is mutual. Hublot’s emphasis on craft finds a kindred spirit in an artist equally fluent in reinvention — and just as resistant to standing still.
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“He likes the Big Bang collection,” Tornare recalls, reflecting on how the union came together. “We were aware he had other proposals, but Hublot felt like an instinctive choice — we are very expressive by nature, and so is he. For me, a partnership is a process of testing. It’s like a marriage: If you want it to last, you have to take the time to understand one another, to seriously observe and study.”
If the alliance between the pair is still in its early chapters, the watch on Jung Kook’s wrist is anything but arbitrary. The Big Bang Original Unico — launched in January as a distillation of more than two decades of Hublot’s evolution — carries the spirit of Jean-Claude Biver’s original 2005 design, unveiled at Baselworld, into the present. For a performer whose trajectory has been defined by the same restless logic, the fit feels natural. According to Tornare, the 2026 watch represents where both parties stand: established, yet in motion. Rather than rushing into a signature edition, the priority is immersion, allowing affinity to crystallise before anything more personal takes shape.
“The bond has to come first,” he reiterates, “before we venture into any special editions.”
His vision for the 46-year-old company has always been plural, rooted in the belief that the most fertile ground for a watch brand lies not within the familiar corridors of horology but at its edges, in a wider constellation of fields and voices.
“The industry is too conservative and very rational about things. Well, I’m Swiss and I can say that without offending my country,” Tornare notes, with a hint of amusement. “Making music one of our core pillars will lend us a lot of visibility, especially in South Korea, because, honestly, we’ve seen amazing double-digit growth here. I believe we’ll continue to benefit from the coolness and momentum it has sustained.”
Seventh heaven
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There is a version of Jung Kook the world knows well — the one that fills stadiums, stops traffic and tears through the streets on a motorcycle to the tune of The Chemical Brothers’ 1997 banger Block Rockin’ Beats. The figure who arrived at STRX House for Hublot’s big day, without the armour of the stage, was earnest as well as unguarded — and in some ways more arresting for it. While the apparatus of fame assembled itself outside — paparazzi staking territory, ARMY fans pressed a block back behind an invisible line — he simply headed up the sidewalk and stepped onto the podium unhurried in a wine-coloured suit and black satin shirt, sharpened by his signature piercings. Peeking from his cuffs was the unmistakable Big Bang Original Unico in lustrous King Gold.
What did the man of the hour make of the shiny 43mm ticker?
He rep lied, “Meosisseoyo,” meaning “cool” in Korean, with a small grin in front of an eager press.
“To be honest, I wasn’t someone who was particularly interested in watches. But around the time I started thinking I wanted to own a proper one, I was fortunate enough to cross paths with Hublot. The brand never stops pushing boundaries and its spirit harmonises with my own life.”
Where Jung Kook moved, eyes followed. He drifted through the watch display — pausing, lingering over specific pieces with the interest of someone genuinely absorbed — as the crowd jostled closer, phones aloft. All the while, the room pulsed to the soundtrack of his own catalogue, a formidable body of work that had propelled him to this moment. Later on stage, the youngest of the septet, never one to resist a moment of play, coaxed Tornare into a cheek-heart pose for the camera, a characteristically aegyo gesture that swiftly made its rounds online.
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Besides the flash, his entry into the realm of watchmaking has been unassuming, as he approached his role with a striking lack of pretence.
“Hublot feels like a place that anyone can make their own, regardless of age,” he says of his first impression. “There’s a youthful energy, but at the same time, many of the watches also possess a sense of timelessness, which really stood out to me.
“Becoming an ambassador [of this kind] is a new but meaningful experience. So, I’m really looking forward to it. Through this opportunity, I hope to get to know Hublot more deeply and build a greater affection for watches along the way.”
Strip away the occasion, and what remains is a surprisingly candid self-portrait. Jung Kook has never given much thought to proven templates — not out of rebellion but because the concept has never felt relevant to how he orients himself. From group success to a solo run that has redrawn the limits of what a K-pop artist can achieve, he has carved out a successful course with little precedent, setting records that had almost none to follow. It is a mindset that mirrors, without quite trying, Hublot’s own reputation for disruption.
“I’ve never been too conscious of fitting into a fixed mould — that has always come naturally to me. Maybe that’s why I’m able to do what I want and set my own direction.
“As the years pass, being with the members feels more and more precious. I’m not someone who holds on to memories for long; so, the most recent ones stay the clearest — I really enjoyed the time we spent working on music together in the US. And performing in front of ARMY is always what stays with me the most. That’s when I feel truly alive as a singer."
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Yet to come
Spectacle built Hublot. Magic Gold, sapphire crystal, high-tech ceramics and a marketing instinct that understood, before most, that a horological stalwart could behave like a cultural force. Tornare inherits that legacy without apology. What he is intent on adding is the one thing critics have been hesitant to grant: technical credibility.
The evidence, however, is taking form on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland, where a significantly expanded manufacture in Nyon is under construction — more than doubling the company’s existing capacity and conceived as something closer to a destination than a factory. There is also a longer arc being tended to.
Carlo Crocco, the Italian founder who set the original fusion philosophy in motion — even at 81, still as sharp as a pin — will be speaking publicly about the brand’s origins for the first time. For a house that has spent more than four decades looking forward, it is a symbolic overture. To understand where it is heading, Tornare seems to suggest, it helps to hear where it began.
“For once, I’m working for an organisation that is younger than I am,” enthuses the industry veteran, who spent 17 years at Vacheron Constantin and six at Zenith.
“People are always saying we don’t have real heritage or savoir faire, but that is just picking an easy target,” he explains, with the measured calm of a leader who has heard the criticism often enough to have stopped losing sleep over it.
The detractors, by his reckoning, are prone to confuse unfamiliarity with inadequacy. A name as deliberately singular as Hublot will always draw more fire than one content to recede into the orthodox mainstream.
Asked what lies on the horizon, he flashes the same knowing smile that accompanied last year’s cryptic promise. This time, the hint is just as spare.
“Something big! But it will feature a contemporary artist. You’ll hear all about it soon enough.”
This article first appeared on March 30, 2026 in The Edge Malaysia.
