The Wizard Of Time

At nearly 70 years old, watch industry veteran Jean-Claude Biver believes that it is too late to start his eponymous brand. But his wife thinks otherwise, he tells Terence Lim.

- Terence Lim

After working in the Swiss watch industry for nearly 50 years, Jean-Claude Biver is finally a free man. The legend, whose decisive leadership has been felt at Blancpain, Omega, Hublot, Tag Heuer, and Zenith over the years, officially stepped down from his post as president of the LVMH watch division and CEO of Tag Heuer late last year due to health reasons. He will, however, stay on as non-executive chairman of the division.

After LVMH issued the announcement, the 69-year-old said, with his usual brand of humour, “I’ll no longer be cutting the onions and crying in the kitchen early in the morning, I’ll just come later to see if they are ready.” The larger-than-life character, whose laughter and voice often boomed down the once hallowed hallways of Baselworld, will definitely be missed. He is widely credited for reversing the fortunes of the many flagging watch brands he has led and overseeing the ascension of Hublot from a small Swiss watchmaking marque in the eighties to become one of the biggest horological powers in the world today.

The affable Luxembourg-born watch industry veteran was in Singapore recently to meet the media, and he was in excellent spirits, cracking jokes about drinking wine during this interview and obliging everyone’s incessant requests to take selfies and autograph his latest book, The Wizard of Swiss Watchmaking. But his beaming smile disappeared briefly when the topic turned to watches and the next generation.