The Hublot watch featuring a gold case and natural rubber strap was created in 1980. For the first time in the history of matchmaking, a precious material like gold was combined with rubber. It all started when a scion of the Italian Binda Group dynasty, best known for making Breil watches, Carlo Crocco left the company in 1976 to strike out on his own and create a new watch company. Moving to Switzerland he formed MDM Geneve and set about designing a watch that he named the Hublot after the French word for "porthole".