Jean-Claude Biver is one of the biggest figures in the watch industry and will stay it forever. He has "started from the bottom", worked in the most prestigious watchmaking houses, he is also an outstanding entrepreneur, a communication guru and probably one of the biggest watch collector ever. It is hard to describe this man in one sentence, as he is one of the people that had a massive impact on the watch industry. To depict the character, we suggest you this three-step portrayal:
1) The businessman
Born in Luxembourg in 1949, later taking on the swiss citizenship, Jean-Claude Biver started his career at Audemars Piguet in 1975 where he will learn the watchmaking crafts with the help of technicians and engineers. His stay at "Le Brassus" will coincide with the creation of the mythical Royal Oak of Gerald Genta. the beginnings of this model was quite harsh, as its look with the apparent screws was at first not greeted by the greater crowed. Jean-Claude Biver, took action and crossed Europe as a salesman in order to advertise this particular watch. It was a first victory for the ma, as soon the watch will become ad will stay until now, one of the most iconic watch on the market.
After a short year stay at Omega in 1980, Jean-Claude Biver acquired in 1982 with Jacques Piguet (the director of the movement producer F. Piguet), the rights of the famous watchmaking house Blancpain, for as little as 22.000 Swiss francs as the company has been struggling since the quartz watch release. The two friends only swear by traditional watchmaking, and have won their bet, as they sold the company ten years later to what will become the swatch group for 60 million francs. Jean-claude Biver will stay the company's CEO until 2003, as well as being the marketing director and administrator at Omega. At Omega's he has contributed a lot at the revival of the Speedmaster professional moonwatch by betting on celebrity marketing by hiring brand ambassadors such as Cindy Crawford or Michael Schumacher.
His second master achievement after Blancpain is named Hublot. In 2004 he took a minor stake int hublot, and released the famous Big Bang which would become the pride of the company. The massive growth that the company has undertaken due to the release of this watch, made it attractive to investors and it was bought by LVMH in 2008. Since then, it became safe to safe that everything that whatever Jean-Claude Biver touches becomes gold. Therefore he turned into a notorious star in the watch industry.
2) The communication guru
The prodigy of Jean-Claude Biver is his capacity to describe the product. Before all he has a natural talent for storytelling, and has marked the crowed spirits with his statement. His first success comes back to the Blancpain quartz crises, when he announced "Since 1735, there has not been a single Blancpain with a quartz movement, and there will never be one!".
For hublot he understood before a lot of brands that at the time targeted elitist sports such as golf, that football (soccer for our American readers) represent a peerless communication tool. Thus he though about distinguishing himself and proposed to FIFA to equip the side referees that announce the player swaps with a Hublot Big Bang shaped clock, which will provide the brand a big international awareness.
3) The Collector
Being in contact with all the different players of this sector for decades brings you a lot of advantages. Being close with different watchmakers enabled him access to very rare collection pieces. He also collects all brands without any favoritism. Being close to Philippe Stern, the legendary CEO of Patek Philippe, he own a vast number of watches of the brand, including prototypes and limited editions with the number 0. Claude Biver has since put a part of his collection on sale at "Phillips watches", with a count of 210 pieces and a total sale worth over 30 million CHF. The most impressive piece of the auction was probably his Patek Philippe 1518 perpetual calendar from 1948 in rose gold, with a salmon dial that was sold for 3.6 million dollars.
His favorite saying is: "When you have arrived at the top of the mountain, keep climbing". And this is precisely what he did! At over 70 years old, he is now the president of the watch division of LVMH group. He still remains a official for hublot, and he is working on Tag Heuer's connected watch launch. For Zenith, that he has been leading since 2017, he is at the origin of the reedition of the EL Primero.
Jean-Claude Biver is still omnipresent in the watch industry, and his name will forever be associated to it.
