Watches revealed in an interactive display case
Watchmaking — Two Vaud companies have created an internet-controlled display system for Hublot.
You may not be able to afford one, but you dream of discovering a Hublot watch from every angle. That is now possible with just a few mouse clicks, thanks to a new interactive display case designed by Dietlin Artisans and FiveCo — with the backing of the Nyon-based watchmaker, which has signed the exclusivity for this concept, called Fusion Explorer.
On one side: a fully real boutique, workshop, or exhibition space. Hublot displays a watch inside a case fitted with a micro-camera. Using a remote control, the on-site visitor can zoom and rotate the lens to examine the object in detail on a large screen installed in the room. The experience then continues in the virtual world: from Hublot's website, internet users can also remotely control the camera for up to two minutes.
Having already designed the Raptor display stand — a glass-free case also made for Hublot — Dietlin and FiveCo spent eighteen months developing this new project. The challenge included ensuring the reliable operation of around ten moving cables and a 100-gram camera that required the machining of 134 custom-made parts. In a watchmaking world that makes liberal — some would say excessive — use of 3D imagery, Xavier Dietlin sees live remote viewing as a genuine advantage: "With computer-generated images, you can never be sure the watch actually exists, given how many you see that never make it to market."
Hublot CEO Jean-Claude Biver, who personally requested that the camera display case be made available online, believes the product's innovative character fits perfectly with his brand's forward-looking ethos.
A waiting list
But the system has one weak point: the camera can only be operated by one person at a time. Internet users — who take priority over "real" visitors — will therefore need to join a waiting list to access the gadget. Should it prove successful, patience will be required: only one display case is currently active, in Nyon, before eleven new installations are progressively rolled out worldwide by 2009, at a unit cost of "several tens of thousands of francs", not including development costs.
Xavier Dietlin was keen to offer reassurance: "The accessibility issue will be resolved as the number of display cases grows."
