Alex Ovechkin was a busy man on Tuesday night. After signing autographs and mingling with fans at the Capitals’ annual season ticket holder event, the Great 8 made his way to Georgetown where he was honored by Hublot, a luxury Swiss watchmaker.

Hublot named Ovechkin a “friend of the brand” during the fancy dinner reception at the acclaimed fusion restaurant, Nobu. The distinction is a big honor as Ovechkin joins other famous athletes like Usain Bolt and Pélé in Hublot’s portfolio of friends.

“I have been following Hublot’s bold designs and the incredible ways they create watches for a long time now,” Ovechkin said in a release. “As the iconic brand is a major supporter of the sports industry, I really enjoyed my time with the Hublot team in Moscow during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. It is a huge honor for me to represent Hublot and join many other sports heroes as a Friend of the Hublot brand.”

During Ovechkin’s appearance at the 2018 Moscow event, he met Pélé and took several photos with the soccer legend.

Ovechkin, wearing a white dress shirt and red sweater, was joined at Nobu by his wife Nastya Ovechkina. The President of Hublot America, Jean-Francois Sberro, welcomed Ovechkin with a short speech.

“Thank you all for being here tonight,” Sberro said according to hautetime.com. “We are very honored to be hosting this dinner and kicking off the first event with our new friend Alexander Ovechkin. When a French guy working for a Swiss company welcomes a Russian friend of the brand in a Japanese restaurant with an American partner—that is the Art of Fusion at its best!”

Ovechkin wore a King Power Black ceramic and baguettes watch to the event (worth tens of thousands of dollars) and in a photoshoot he rocked a Big Bang Unico Sapphire worth $85k. Moving forward he will do a variety of advertising projects to promote the brand.

At the dinner, Hautetime.com reported that Ovechkin and the VIP guests enjoyed cocktails and a specially-curated meal while violinist Edward W. Hardy played hip-hop songs like All of the Lights, Wild Thoughts, and Old Town Road.

Guests enjoyed a cigar lounge after the reception where they could choose from a selection of Arturo Fuente Cigars. Each guest received a special gift bag which included a Hublot-branded puck and a signed hat from Ovechkin.

Photos

Press release

Ice hockey champion Alexander Ovechkin becomes a Hublot Friend of the Brand


Washington D.C., November 5 – Hublot is proud to announce Alexander Ovechkin as a new Friend of the Brand. Fans of Hublot, Ovechkin, and members of the media gathered to welcome the NHL star to the Hublot family at an intimate dinner hosted at world-renowned NOBU in the historic Georgetown area of the U.S. capital. The acclaimed fusion restaurant set the stage for a merging of cultures and industries, bringing together the Russian captain of the Washington Capitals and Hublot’s legacy in watchmaking.

“We are so excited to welcome Alex into the Hublot family. We’ve been following his story for a long time and when we met him at the FIFA Confederation CupTM Russia 2017, we knew we had met a superstar, a sporting great and the perfect match for Hublot. His record in the NHL is simply extraordinary. He embodies everything Hublot values – excellence, high performance and a commitment to doing things the right way. Hublot loves Ovi!” Hublot’s CEO Ricardo Guadalupe said.

“I have been following Hublot’s bold designs and the incredible ways they create watches for a long time now. As the iconic brand is a major supporter of the sports industry, I really enjoyed my time with the Hublot team in Moscow during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. It is a huge honor for me to represent Hublot and join many other sports heroes as a Friend of the Hublot brand,” Alexander Ovechkin said.

Russian professional ice hockey player Alexander is one of the greats of the game and a global sporting icon. Known as ‘Ovi’ or ‘The Great Eight’ because of his jersey number, he is currently captain of the Washington Capitals, a top team in the National Hockey League (NHL). Alexander led the Capitals to their first ever Stanley Cup win, making it ‘The Summer of Ovi’ according to the Washington media.

Alexander is a hugely decorated athlete with a long list of records to his name. He was the first player to win the prestigious Art Ross Trophy, Maurice Richard Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award and Hart Memorial Trophy in a single season. He has won the Maurice Richard Trophy, given to the NHL’s top goal-scorer, an NHL-record of eight times, including in six of the last seven seasons. No other player has won the award more than three times.

Upon winning the Stanley Cup, he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player in the finals, as voted for by writers of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association. He has represented his country at three Olympics and 11 World Championships, winning the latter three times. In a 2017 poll, he was listed as one of the greatest 100 NHL players of all time. Now 34, he will be remembered as one of the true legends of the game, an ice hockey icon!

Alexander joins Hublot’s portfolio of Friends of the Brand, which includes Usain Bolt, Kylian Mbappé, Pélé, Alex Morgan, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Dina Asher-Smith and DJ Snake.

HUBLOT

Founded in Switzerland in 1980, HUBLOT is defined by its innovation, which began with the highly original combination of gold and rubber. This “Art of Fusion” stems from the imagination of its visionary Chairman, Jean-Claude Biver, and has been driven forward by CEO Ricardo Guadalupe since 2012.

The release of the iconic, multi-award-winning Big Bang in 2005 paved the way for new flagship collections (Classic Fusion, Spirit of Big Bang), with complications ranging from the simple to the highly sophisticated, establishing the extraordinary DNA of the Swiss watchmaking house and ensuring its impressive growth.

Keen to preserve its traditional and cutting-edge expertise, and guided by its philosophy to “Be First, Different and Unique”, the Swiss watchmaker is consistently ahead of the curve, through its innovations in materials (scratch-resistant Magic Gold, ceramics in vibrant colours, sapphire), and the creation of Manufacture movements (Unico, Meca-10, Tourbillon).

HUBLOT is fully committed to creating a Haute Horlogerie brand with a visionary future: a future which is fused with the key events of our times (FIFA World CupTM, UEFA Champions LeagueTM, UEFA EUROTM and Ferrari) and the finest ambassadors our era has to offer (Kylian Mbappé, Usain Bolt, Pelé).

Discover the HUBLOT universe at our network of boutiques located in key cities across the globe: Geneva, Paris, London, New York, Hong Kong, Dubai, Tokyo, Singapore, Zurich and at HUBLOT.com

Photos: Hublot North America