“When crisis looms, one must already be prepared for the good days that are coming. People often rubbish it but it is my guiding light, although sometimes I just don’t have the strength,” admits the man who often turns to the Bible for God’s promises and guidance.
Biver played a pivotal role in resurrecting the Swiss classical, handmade mechanical watchmaking tradition when he and Jacques Piguet purchased the rights to Blancpain, Switzerland’s (and the world’s) oldest watchmaker brand. With the rise and rise of quartz watches in the 1970s, Blancpain and everything it stood for was rendered obsolete, but a revival by Biver and Piguet in the 1980s gave it — and the Swiss watchmaking industry — a new lease of life.
The major lesson of a crisis is after the storm, the sun comes up and that’s okay as long as it comes with no major damage like the loss of a life. Then, it’s a different story,” declares Jean-Claude Biver, a Swiss watch industry legend who has helmed Blancpain, Omega, Hublot and TAG Heuer. Before announcing his retirement in 2018, the position he last held was head of the watches and jewellery division of the LVMH conglomerate.
It was early February and the heavy clouds in the city were threatening to rain. From the hotel lounge window where we were seated, we could see the traffic building up along Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. It was my first meeting with the man often hailed as the saviour of the Quartz crisis. He was in town for one night only. The 73-year-old sure has the energy and fire to keep going, come what may.
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