The famed 73-year-old watchmaker, who retired from the business in 2018 after serving as CEO of Tag Heuer and president of LVMH's whole watch division, recently informed Switzerland's RTS news station that he is planning a comeback with an eponymous brand of watches called JC Biver. In fact, he claimed to have visited a potential firm headquarters just last week.
Biver told the outlet, "My name is valuable, credible, and well-known." "That may come across as arrogant, but it's the result of 50 years of horology." Indeed, Biver has built a reputation as a rainmaker over the course of his high-profile career, reviving staid watch brands by reworking them to appeal to a younger audience.
He still sees the value of a youth-driven firm, despite his age. He wants to hire a staff with a "median age of 30 to 35," and he's looking at partnerships with horological colleges to recruit watchmakers early in their careers. There's no news on when his first watches will be released, but Biver said they'll be a "small family brand" that's "extremely passionate and exclusive." Finally, for him, the big objective is to pass on his knowledge to a younger generation of watchmakers.
Biver earned a name for himself by pushing huge companies to new heights, so it'll be interesting to see what he can achieve with a smaller, more autonomous company. Biver stated in a 2018 interview with Robb Report that watch consumers are clamoring en masse for the same big brands (i.e. Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet) is actually “an asset for small brands because it opens holes the big groups cannot fill.” He added that this is why “people are looking for F.P. Journe or Max Büsser [of MB&F] or Rexhep [Rexhepi of Akrivia].”
