Every industry has its characters. The automotive world had Gianni Agnelli; computing, Steve Jobs; in fashion, that über-fashionista Donatella Versace.
The watch world? It has Jean-Claude Biver. Watch boss across LVMH Group’s portfolio of top Swiss brands, but best known for nurturing the flimsy notion of a mechanical watch when even Switzerland itself had given up the ghost.
Irrepressible, outspoken, yet refreshingly straightforward – the man has never been more relevant, despite proximity to his 70th year. As if to underscore his place in the anachronism of watchmaking – increasingly an anachronism thanks to the efforts of aforementioned Mr Jobs and his iWatch – Mr Biver has one particularly oddball hobby: making cheese.
He has a farm, cows, the lot, and his Emmental is sublime, with a floral note derived directly from his petal-strewn pastures. But you’ll never know, because he offers every year’s five-tonne yield only to friends, and never with a pricetag. “If I don’t sell it,” explains Biver, “then I will decide who gets it,” adding with typical gusto, “I will be the master of my cheese until the last piece!”
But unlike Blur’s bass player Alex James, whose rock’n’rollness is so ridiculously undermined by the same pastime, there is actually good sense behind Biver’s decision to establish his dairy in 2004.
Watchmaking is born in the farmhouses of the Jura.
“It is the watchmaking art!” he exclaims. “Watchmaking is born in the farmhouses of the Jura. They were all making cheese in the summer, then come the winter they were polishing wheels and pinions. So when I make my cheese, I connect to the origin of the watchmaking art.”
Its this nod to the “watchmaking art” and the origins of Swiss watchmaking that have defined Biver’s career, making him the erstwhile spokesman of an industry that now owes so much to his efforts and beliefs in the Eighties, when Far Eastern quartz had laid waste to the industry. It was 1981 when he and Jacques Piguet purchased the name “Blancpain” – all that was left of a firm that once supplied watches to American frogmen. Attracted by its claim to be Switzerland’s oldest watchmaker, they rebuilt the brand on the now famous slogan, “Since 1735 there has never been a quartz Blancpain watch. And there never will be.”
After a similarly phenomenal turnaround at Omega, Biver joined Hublot in 2004.
Despite being one of Switzerland’s younger brands, Biver was too clever to engineer a false heritage – instead, he embraced the collision of traditional watchmaking with the future, “fusing” high-tech materials like ceramic and titanium with mechanics, distinguishing Hublot as the ultimate contemporary watchmaker and attracting LVMH as its new owner.
So, with Hublot and, most recently, TAG Heuer’s phoenix-like reinventions under his belt, it’s time for Mr Biver to attend to one last brand, before retirement (or so he says). It’s top dog at LVMH, and the latest prestige watch brand to join the ROX roster: Zenith. One of Switzerland’s finest, making the most legendary chronograph movement in current production, the El Primero, and arguably the first to pioneer the ‘manufacture’ method, bringing every watchmaking discipline beneath one roof at its factory in the Jura Mountains. He’s already appointed a CEO, Julien Tornare, but not before Biver’s Midas touch has begun to weave its magic…
With all of your watch-brand turnarounds, there has always been a clear, concise new focus. Hublot was the fusion of materials, what is it for Zenith now?
Zenith is nothing else than, “the future of traditional watchmaking art.”
How different are the challenges posed by Zenith, in contrast to those of the other brands you’ve revived?
Many of Zenith’s characteristics remind me of those of Blancpain. It is a manufacture with exclusively its own movement, it has a very conservative and low-profile design, it has quite a low awareness, a small turnover and limited budgets. But on the other hand what appears to be weaknesses can easily be transformed into strengths.
How did you settle on Julien as the new CEO, and how does your relationship with him work now?
We have the best possible relationship and are already in a very friendly relationship where each of us is contributing with his ideas to the development of the brand. Of course he is the CEO and he is the leader of the brand and I respect him as such.
The new, 100th-of-a-second Defy 21 has a kind of techy, retro-futuristic look. Is this indicative of a new brand-wide aesthetic?
It is the vision of the future of the tradition. And most of our future products will have to represent the future of the tradition.
Will there ever be a “connected” Zenith smartwatch?
Yes, but only on the day we will be able to make a connected watch by hand with the fingers of the watchmaker master. Who knows, maybe in the year 2200 this might be possible?
What do you consider the three greatest achievements over the course of your amazing career?
Blancpain was my first big success and will always remain because you never forget the first. Hublot is for sure the most spectacular success of my career and last but not least TAG Heuer will become the biggest success in terms of turnover.
Will your cheese dairy beckon soon, full-time?
I love to have my hands ‘in the oil’ and the day I will not enjoy it anymore, I will know that time has come to retire!
You are famously enamoured by the chronograph – what do you love about this complication?
I started to love the chronograph when I discovered the work of Victorin Piguet when living in the Vallée de Joux. I love the complication because of the hands of the chronograph, which are giving life to the dial and to the watch. I have always particularly loved Zenith’s El Primero because it is the only chronograph movement which indicates to an accuracy of a tenth of a second [most are an eighth]. And on top of this it is a relatively small movement and an extra slim movement.
Personally, we can’t wait to see what’s in store. Good luck, Monsieur Biver! Though you probably won’t need it…
Hublot and Zenith are available online at www.rox.co.uk
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WATCH TRADE-IN
Building a watch collection is a lifelong journey with big brand milestones along the way. However, there comes a time when your watch just isn’t cutting it and it’s time to invest in something new. By trading in your old watch, you can take your next step on the watch collection ladder in three simple steps: send us your details, receive your quote and trade-in your watch. You can then use the value of your old watch as a deposit for a new one at ROX.