Hublot Service Courtesy Watch

One of my favourite things about this hobby is that you’re constantly learning; there is always something interesting around the corner, and you never know what that is going to be.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the routine of taking your car for its annual service and, on occasion, making use of a courtesy car whilst your own car is being worked on. It’s not quite as expeditious as a car service when you send your watch in, however, and these can often take as long as even several months, especially when dealing directly with the brand as opposed to an independent watchmaker.

Those months can feel like an age, and to compound the wait further still, you’re often left with a void on your wrist throughout (unless you’re fortunate enough to won more than one watch) and, when you finally get your watch back it is often accompanied with what can be a rather pricey bill.

In an effort to try and make the experience better for customers, I discovered recently that in 2012, Hublot launched a service watch, or courtesy watch scheme. This entails a Hublot “Atelier watch”, essentially a service courtesy watch, being made available to customers who send a watch for servicing via their boutiques. Whilst the concept itself isn’t new, it’s certainly a novelty in the watch industry with not many other brands having done it previously (the only other example I could find was referenced on a Monochrome Watches article, citing the brand LIP doing the same thing during the 1960s!)

These watches are not something you see very often and aren’t for sale, as is not-so-subtly alluded to on the dial.

However, it turns out, that this isn’t the first time Hublot have offered such a service. There is a rather collectible little oddity which dates back to the 1993 Baselworld fair, when an earlier Hublot service watch was offered to distributors to offer customers who brought their Hublot watch in for service or repair. The idea being that customers would wear this whilst their own watch was away for service. The proviso was that the customers had to return the service courtesy watch in order to retrieve their own.

In terms of look these were more reminiscent of the early MDM Genève ‘Hublot’ watches (when ‘Hublot’ referred to a collection of watches made by Carlo Crocco’s MDM Genève company, with the H logo at the top and ‘Service’ where we would have found the original MDM Genève logo).

When you think about it, given where the brand was in around 1993 (it wasn’t until 2004 when Jean-Claude Biver got involved that Hublot truly skyrocketed), it is even more remarkable to think that this was even a consideration, let alone a genuine service offered, and one can surmise from this that there probably aren’t too many of these in circulation, especially given the service purportedly didn’t last too long.

Luckily, I have managed to find one of these rare, original 1993 Hublot service watches to get a hands-on look…

Hublot Service Courtesy Watch

Whilst this watch is obviously not an all-singing, all-dancing high horology piece, it certainly isn’t something that you would likely come across very often, or perhaps even know it existed. It’s an oddity, unusual, and its entire reason for existing is a little quirky and what makes it collectible; to me, that is what makes it interesting and why I wanted to write about it.

Comparing this original 1990s Hublot service watch with the more recent Hublot “Atelier watch” introduced in 2012, you can see a difference which, to my eye, reflects differences between the earliest Hublot designs and the recent incarnations of the Hublot Classic Fusion.

For instance, the difference in the ‘H’ screws on the bezel – they are not present in the original 1990s service watch, but very much present on the “Atelier watch”, which echoes how these went on to become a more significant feature of more recent Hublot watches in comparison with the earlier Hublot (as seen above), whereby the bezel is adorned with more, but smaller, rivet-like features.

Another difference reflecting the evolution of the brand is that on the 1990s service watch, we find a protrusion akin to that seen on the Patek Philippe Nautilus at the 9 o’clock position which doesn’t feature as prominently on the 2012 “Atelier watch”, where it is pared back a little.

So, what about the watch in itself?

Well, as you would expect, it is pretty basic – after all, Hublot aren’t going to be dishing out expensive mechanical watches for free to customers for months on end, especially if they wanted clients to use the service at it was intended and willingly bring it back to exchange for their own watch after it had been serviced.

The watch itself is a 36mm case (I think in either steel or maybe aluminium) with a quartz movement inside, and the caseback of the 1990s Hublot service watch is stamped with the same “Not for sale” line found on the 2012 “Atelier watch” dial, as well as an advisory 50 metre water resistance rating.

The black dial contrasts well against the silver colour of the aluminium, and displays hours, minutes and seconds with no hour markers/indices, or any additional complications such as the date. A bold silver ‘H’ Hublot logo is placed at 12 o’clock, and an unmissable ‘Service’ is emblazoned in silver across the 6 o’clock position to complete this rather unique and distinctive look.

Finally, the watch is presented on a black strap with pin and buckle fastening, which is again I think connotative of its time from the 1990s when contrasted with the “Atelier watch” from 2012 which features a more familiar black rubber strap.

In July 2023, John Goldberger even posted a photo of his very own Hublot Service Watch on his Instagram account – check the post out here.

In Summary

To me, what this watch represents is (clearly) not a piece of high horology, but it is a strange little curiosity of a watch which is both rare and represents a part of the history of the watch industry.

The whole concept of a service or courtesy watch is novel to me, and something I didn’t even know existed until I discovered this Hublot service courtesy watch – it’s certainly not an everyday wear, but it makes me happy that it even exists. Hopefully you’ll find learning of its existence as interesting and fun as I did!

Huge thank you to @RobbieAndWatches for allowing me to use his photo – be sure to check his website out and follow him on Instagram!

If you have any questions, or want to share your thoughts, please get in touch via our Contact page, or via our Instagram.

You might also be interested in:

• In Conversation with Jean-Claude Biver
• Jean-Claude Biver: A Retrospective, Share Respect Forgive
• Spotlight: Dive Watches
• Watch Stationery and Gift Ideas
• Watch Books, Watch Boxes and more at the Watch Affinity Shop on Amazon (commissions earned)

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases – thank you for your support