A personal reflection of Jean-Claude Biver (the short version)

[Note: This is the short version because I didn’t want to burden you with details or make you wonder why I keep going on about how great this man is. For that we have to meet up at an event where Mr Biver is speaking and you will know what its all about. However if after that encounter you end up buying Big Bangs, please don’t blame me for it and so the short version follows… ]

My encounters with JC Biver was first virtually through the net. People are amazed at this man and how he finds the time and energy to be in touch with both his customers and critics on Horomundi and on Timezone Hublot forums. He connects with his customers, lets them know they are taken care of in getting one of his watches and responds to critics with a openness and humility that just blows this observer(and former critic ) away.

But it is with hearing this man speak that you learn more of him (if he is willing to share, which I believe he is on most occasions) more of his ideas and vision and from his energy and passion, you can tell that this is a man who is going to see not only more current success but create ongoing legacies in the course of his life's work.

On the man then… I think you first have to begin with a very knowledgeable and keen mind, of seeking out opportunity where others don’t even see it, as with Blancpain which he bought with a teenie-tiny amount of money and made it a success and as with Hublot, realising the true potential of not only fusion but of conveying the future in these watches and invariably making the Big Bang the huge success that it has become. Then you realise the charisma of the man, the unpretentious charm, the strength and the will. And while taking all this in, you will be marveling at the passion and the drive obvious not only in what he has achieved to date (from his humble start in the post office to Audemars Piguet, to the revival of Blancpain, bringing glamour and celebrity to Omega and to reinventing fusion with Hublot) but in how he carries himself and approaches life, which would put many a younger person to shame.

In his speech for the dinner that night, Mr Biver made an interesting statement that resonated with me and it was that his watches represented a ‘disconnect from the past and a connection to the future’ and he related some wonderful and humorous real life stories of Hublot owners reflecting this. If I may I would like to take that a little further and say that it is in Hublot and in the Big Bang that Mr Biver is giving us a realisation of his vision of a “connection to the future taking the best of the past, and a disconnect from all that is irrelevant and inconsequential of the past.”

I believe he is realising this vision with Hublot each day and planning ahead, as can be seen in the commitment to establish a strong manufactory, so that there will be an ongoing legacy and a great future for Hublot and of the watches they create, and my hats off to him for that.

I end off by saying that if I were a betting man, I would put good money down that with anything that Mr Biver is helming, its gonna be a sure thing and its also going to be very safe to say that...

‘you ain’t seen nothing yet’

Mr Biver, if you're reading this, all the best to you and your team, and I very much look forward to our next meeting. Bien amicalement.

Cheers
Raphmeister