Whilst the headlines of the FIFA 2018 World Cup went to the French national team for claiming the coveted trophy, it was a different set of headlines that appealed to watch fans. This World Cup happened to make history when Hublot paired with FIFA to supply referee watches. The referee watches were Smartwatches and would wear Hublot Big Bang watches whilst officiating matches.
The reason for the switch to Smartwatches was simple, as they allowed referees to be able to check vital updates of the match. For instance, these watches could instantly tell refs whether the ball had crossed the line and if a goal had been scored or not, as the watches were rigged up to VAR technology that monitored the goings-on of the ball in real-time.
The first watch of the tournament was worn by referee Nestor Pitana of Argentina who wore a Hublot Big Bang Smartwatch. However, it wasn’t just for practical reasons that Hublot were being worn by referees. In a marketing campaign building up to World Cup, Argentinian soccer legend Diego Maradona bizarrely wore two Hublot Big Bang watches in a promotional shoot that featured his countries colors on the strap and dial.
It turns out that this was the first-ever line of Smartwatches that Hublot released and they were priced to the public at around $5000. After Hublot announced their partnership with FIFA, the Swiss watch company said “Wanting a customized watch for the referees, FIFA asked Hublot to conceive the perfect watch to accompany them on the pitches during the matches.”
Before the introduction of the Smartwatch, referees had to get by on using old-fashioned stopwatches for years. Due to the nature of human error, this technique of keeping time and aiding decisions was deemed outdated by 2018.
Although this was a Smartwatch, it was also visually very similar to the pre-existing range of Big Bang watches. This meant that they feature kevlar inserts and six screws around the case. However, if you wanted to get one of these brand new then good luck. To celebrate the release year of 2018, a total of 2018 of these watches were produced, making it a limited edition release.
Looking back, 2018 was arguably the year for watch brands to enter the Smartwatch market. One year after the release of the game-changing Apple Watch, the likes of Hublot, Skagen, and Fitbit all released Smartwatches that featured touchscreen technology. At the time, this could be considered revolutionary as these watches were meant to act almost like personal computers.
