Jean-Claude Biver

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Jean-Claude Biver - LVMH
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For GMT Publishing has created The Millennium Watch Book for the 20th anniversary of GMT Magazine, available for pre-order now. Read here an exclusive excerpt from the book.

On the occasion of GMT Magazine’s 20th anniversary (and WorldTempus’s upcoming 20th anniversary in 2021), we have embarked on the ambitious project of summarising the last 20 years in watchmaking in The Millennium Watch Book, a big, beautifully laid out coffee table book. The Millennium Watch Book is available exclusively now for pre-order at a discounted rate on www.the-watch-book.com, in French and English, with delivery aimed just in time for the holiday season. 

In the coming weeks, WorldTempus will be exclusively sharing excerpts from the book, to give you a taste.

Only a few days left to get an additional 10% discount on the Millennium Watch Book. To obtain your code, fill in the information requested in the dedicated area to the left of the article.

Here’s is an exclusive excerpt from our section “Who’s who”, where we name the 80 industry players, from CEOs to Creative Directors to retailers and independent watchmakers, who have indelibly shaped the last two decades of watches, written by those in the industry who perhaps know them best. For more information, visit www.the-watch-book.com.

Who’s who-Jean-Claude Biver-By Gisbert Brunner

It’s little wonder that Jean-Claude Biver has carried off prize after prize in honour of his life’s work. Indeed, the results of his action and the merit he has achieved in the service of watchmaking are nothing short of outstanding. This is the man who bought and reorganised Blancpain, put Omega into the orbit of success, sorted out Hublot, restructured TAG Heuer, and gave a lasting impulse to Zenith. He has always set himself challenging goals – and always achieved them. It was Biver who propelled Hublot beyond 400 million in sales, after the ailing watchmaking brand had booked a mere 26 million in 2004. That kind of result would simply not have been possible without the concept of the Fusion and the Big Bang, which lived up to its name in every way – not forgetting the discovery of football, art, and other new avenues of action, either.

Extrait “The Millennium Watch Book” : Jean-Claude Biver

One of the foundations of Jean-Claude Biver’s lasting success is his remarkable ability to identify potential and put it to work. Then, too, there’s his unrivalled charisma. And on top of it all, he’s a visionary manager and a tireless globetrotter, always the best ambassador for his own chronometric missions. Wherever he goes, Jean-Claude Biver carries everybody in his wake – and has continued to do so even after leaving his operational duties heading up Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Zenith, LVMH’s three specialist watchmaking brands. His key message is that love is not just something that exists between two individuals. “Love is an overarching way of living and sharing. Love means sharing. Love means respect. Love means forgiveness. By sharing your mistakes, failings, experiences, and successes, you’re living in love – and really alive”. It remains to be seen whether the septuagenarian (born in September 1950) will now be focusing on life itself, or on some new undertaking; creating his own watchmaking brand, for instance, as something he’d like to bequeath to his children. “My parents always taught me that before you open a door, you should close one behind you. That’s exactly what’s just happened. One door has closed – and now another one’s opening in front of me”.