Hublot Recycles Nespresso Coffee and Aluminum Capsules in New Watch

Dec 16, 2023

PARIS — Any time is coffee time with the collaboration unveiled Thursday between luxury watchmaker Hublot and portioned-coffee pioneer Nespresso.

But it doesn't come in a cup.

Instead, it takes the shape of the Big Bang Unico Nespresso Origin, a watch that packs a message of circularity in its vivid green 42-mm form factor.

"A mechanical watch is the most sustainable product maybe in the world because it is eternal," Hublot's chief executive officer Ricardo Guadalupe told WWD ahead of the launch. "So we must find other ways to talk about ecology, to talk about protection of the planet, to talk about circularity or recycling."

Meant to embody the idea that recycling raw materials can be the epitome of luxury, the 42-millimeter timepiece features a case made of recycled aluminum — a third coming from Nespresso capsules — and comes with two straps using the patented One Click interchangeable system. Both the 100 percent recycled fabric style and its rubber counterpart contain coffee grounds.

The watch is housed in Hublot's brand new "GreenBox," a case carved out of oak right down to its hinges and with a removable interior made of 98 percent eco-friendly and recycled components. The brands’ logos on its exterior were made using more coffee grounds for this specific instance.

For Nespresso CEO Guillaume Le Cunff, the watch embodies shared values of precision, innovation "and don't forget, the Swissness of the two brands," but also the idea that "there is nothing we can fix by ourselves" in today's issues.

A high-end watch is therefore "the concrete example of how much value you can put into circularity," according to the Nespresso executive, and is the "top of the pyramid" of product made utilizing used capsules, which include pens and graphite pencils with Caran d’Ache, Victorinox-made Swiss Army knives and even trousers.

"The endgame for [Nespresso] is to have this conversation and maximize [the collection and reuse of capsules] that we will create through raising awareness," continued Le Cunff.

Since this timepiece is meant as a conversation starter, an all-too-classic watch color like, say, the slate-gray of Guadalupe's favorite Roma coffee blend, wouldn't have hit the spot.

Instead, the Big Bang Unico Nespresso Origin comes in the eye-catching green of the "Master Origin Peru Organic," a single-origin coffee first introduced in 2020. That alone took a year to finesse between all parties, from watchmaker and coffee-maker to the likes of Taiwan-based textile specialist SingTex, which developed the fabric strap made of 95 percent recycled polyester and 5 percent coffee grounds.

For Guadalupe, the real impact will not necessarily be in the sales of the model but in meeting consumers’ expectations from brands on such topics. The watchmaker also supports the Sorai initiative for the conservation of rhinoceroses and the Polar Pod expedition researching the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

For both executives, the Big Bang Unico Nespresso Origin can serve as a platform to communicate to each other's audiences and that this will be beneficial to companies — and causes.

"We firmly believe that impact and good business go together," said Le Cunff. "But the impact is the endgame and we don't believe that we can maximize [that] if we are not successful in business."

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