[Interview] Jean-Claude Biver, founder of JC Biver

One day, I received an email from none other than Jean-Claude Biver. I opened it wondering what it was about and saw a message saying, "I've started a new company, so I'd like you to come to Geneva to hear my story." Sitting in a room at the Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, he spoke to us with the same powerful energy as in his old days.

My new watch will represent who I am.

Jean-Claude Biver
Founder of JC Biver. Born in Luxembourg in 1949. After working at Audemars Piguet, he joined the ASUAG Group (now the Swatch Group). After reviving Blancpain in 1982, he became CEO of Hublot in 2004. Based on the concept of fusion, he quadrupled sales in two years. In 2014, he became president of the LVMH Group's watch division. In January 2022, he founded JC Biver, which bears his name.

"I'm thinking of starting a new company to make watches. In fact, when I was injured and hospitalized, I had nothing to do. So I thought about starting a company. That was in January of this year. The watches I want to make from now on will not be high complication watches, but extreme highs."

　What kind of watch will it be? "The new watch is Japanese style (laughs). Even the parts that cannot be seen are perfectly finished. You can't see the parts under the dial, but that's where we spent our money. We want to do things that no one has ever seen before, and go to a world that no one has ever seen before. That's luxury." When did you come up with the idea to create such an extraordinary watch?

"I've been like that since I was young, but in the past it wasn't possible. It's not possible with an industrial process. What's important to me now is not meeting budgets or making a profit, but perfection. My priorities have changed, because this is my last job."

As he speaks, he is wearing an Akrivia watch on his wrist. I never would have imagined that Biver would be wearing a watch from such a niche manufacturer.

"(Akrivia founder) Recep Rexhepi thinks the same way. That's why I'm wearing it now. Price doesn't matter. Delay doesn't matter. Quality, quality, quality! A lot of people think I'm a marketing guy, but forget it, I'm a product guy."

　The concept is grand.

"The first model will be a repeater with a carillon. The second will be a repeater with a tourbillon. We will only produce 25 to 30 of each. We would also like to give all the steel parts used in the movement a black polished finish, like the exterior of a Grand Seiko," said Biver, who emphasized that although he can do marketing, he is primarily a product enthusiast.

"My strength and passion is products. That's why there is zero marketing in this project. Marketing is like advertising, it's not pure. And religion doesn't need marketing, right? (laughs) You can see who I am by looking at the watches I make. At first, they will be at the same level as the Blancpain 1735 that I once worked on, but later they will surpass it."