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Q&AJean-Claude Biver—TAG Heuer’s (former) CEO—Raises A Toast To The Future Of Tradition

Jean-Claude Biver, the (former) CEO of TAG Heuer and president of the LVMH Group’s watch division talks about how the smartwatch is actually promoting the Swiss watch industry, and about maintaining the individuality of every brand under the LVMH umbrella, including Hublot and Zenith

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(This interview was conducted when Biver was still the CEO of TAG Heuer and president of the LVMH watch division. He has since stepped down from these roles.)

How does the smartwatch impact the Swiss watch industry?

Apple is promoting the Swiss watch industry in a huge way. The Apple Watch is the best thing that could’ve happened to us. Is it more difficult to sell a pair of shoes to someone who has never worn shoes or to somebody who has? It’s definitely easier to sell a pair of leather shoes to someone who has been wearing Nike for 25 years. Similarly, is it more difficult to sell a watch to someone who has never worn a watch in 38 years, or to someone who has? The 30 million Apple watches are 30 million promoters. They’ve got 30 million people to wear a watch on the wrist. It’s the same with Samsung, LG, and so on.

And the smartwatch industry is still in the ‘Stone Age’. The smartwatch hasn’t even begun yet. The Apple Watch started two and a half years ago. When a product has been out for only two years, it’s still a baby. Compared to what a smartwatch will be able to do in the years to come, it does nothing now. What is easier—to have a cell phone in my pocket or to have a watch on the wrist? It’s easier to have a watch on the wrist. Why did we invent the wristwatch? For 300 years, it was just the pocket watch. And then a pilot—Louis Blériot—asked if his pocket watch could be fixed on his wrist, to make it easier to read while flying. And they put his pocket watch on his jacket sleeve. Everybody decided that it was a great idea, and that’s how the pocket watch disappeared. And the cell phone is just like that pocket watch.

Biver
“(Hublot’s Referee FIFA 2018) has sold out! At $5,000, it’s expensive, and only Hublot can sell at this price. And it’s sold out only because it’s 2,018 pieces. Only so many people will buy a product at this price if it is bound to become obsolete soon.”

How is Hublot’s smartwatch doing?

It’s sold out! At $5,000, it’s expensive, and only Hublot can sell at this price. And it’s sold out only because it’s 2,018 pieces. Only so many people will buy a product at this price if it is bound to become obsolete soon. People won’t buy smartphones also for over $1,000, if it’ll be outdated in three years.

Hublot has used TAG Heuer’s Connected module for their smartwatch. With more integration between the LVMH brands, how do you maintain their individual identity?

If you have three kids, how do you not have one kid become a copy of his elder brother? Just by respecting their personality, taste and skills. If one of my children has studied to be a doctor, I won’t ask the other to also study medicine. The other one could be an artist or a drummer. It’s the same here. Every brand has its own DNA, which I have not invented. Every brand has a message. If Hublot’s message is the ‘art of fusion’, I will tell TAG Heuer that they should convey the message of ‘fusion’. And if TAG Heuer wants to go in that direction, I will tell them that they are copying Hublot’s DNA, which is not allowed. But you can help sometimes. If Hublot wants help from TAG Heuer with their smartwatch, of course they’ll get it. But their smartwatch is completely different from TAG’s. It’s got different features and a different price.

Biver
“(LVMH brands) can help (each other) sometimes. If Hublot wants help from TAG Heuer with their smartwatch, of course, they’ll get it. But their smartwatch is completely different from TAG’s.” (Seen here is the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45)

After working with Hublot for so long, and now TAG Heuer, is it difficult to not be partial?

If you ask me which child I love the most, for each one, it’ll be the same. I have been at Hublot, but before that, I was at Omega, and before that Blancpain. I always adapt to the brand, and I go deep into the knowledge and the history. And when you go into the history, you love each brand for what it is. Now, of all the five brands I have handled which one is the closest to my own taste? That’s a different matter. If you ask which child’s dressing I like the most, I can decide. So Hublot is the closest to my taste.

Biver
“So, personalisation comes into the picture. People want customisation in cars. Who can do that? Small workshops! They do what big companies like Mercedes-Benz cannot do. And who is the small workshop for me? It’s Bamford. Bamford is giving me personalisation for special requests (such as the new TAG Heuer Monaco Bamford). They have a good reputation and high quality.”

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Talk about TAG Heuer and Bamford’s collaboration for the new Monaco watch customised by them.

We are in a world where we all tend to be the same. We have the same phone, listen to the same music, have the same jeans, the same Nike shoes, we sometimes even the same tattoo. We are totally unified, like the military. The more similar we are, the more people want to be treated as individuals. So, personalisation comes into the picture. People buy different covers of iPhones to set themselves apart. And it’s the same for cars. People want customisation in cars also. Who can do that? Small workshops! They do what big companies like Mercedes-Benz cannot do. And who is the small workshop for me? It’s Bamford. Bamford is giving me personalisation for special requests. They have a good reputation and high quality.

Zenith has struggled in recent years, but it’s picking up now. What changed?

For 50 years, Zenith had been doing the El Primero, which came out in 1969. But El Primero cannot be repeated and be exactly how it’s been. There must be an evolution. I told Zenith that they must not repeat their tradition. You must be the future of your tradition. If you repeat your tradition, you don’t progress. Just like we have a very long tradition, we have a very long future ahead of us—a future of high-precision instruments. Zenith has won 2,325 grand prix of accuracy. We had to ask what the future of accuracy was. The future of accuracy is a new pendulum system that gives you a time variation of one second per day and not 10. So, we decided to invent a new regulator, a new pendulum. People thought it was impossible, as the pendulum was invented in 1673, by Christian Huygens, and nobody has ever found something better. But we did with the Defy, becoming the future of tradition.

Biver
“We decided to invent a new regulator, a new pendulum. People thought it was impossible, as the pendulum was invented in 1673, by Christian Huygens, and nobody has ever found something better. But we did with the Defy, becoming the future of tradition.”

How strong is Defy for Zenith?

In five years, let’s say about 80 percent of Zenith will be Defy. What the Big Bang is for Hublot, Defy will be for Zenith. What’s great about it is that it kills the normal regulator. Since 1673, every watch has worked from the pendulum. With the new regulator, the pendulum is no longer required. There’s no hairspring, oil, friction or any influence of temperature or magnetic forces. It doesn’t require service or maintenance.

Could you talk about TAG Heuer reinforcing its association with automobiles?

We are back where we belong. We have a DNA that is clearly associated with motor-racing and being absent from motor-racing doesn’t make sense. We have entered fields other than motor-racing—football, lifestyle and collaborating with top models. We’ve also entered art, associating with street painters, music, and we’ve also entered the heritage space, with heritage watches like Monza and Autavia. Having opened other universes, we found that we needed to also reinforce motor-racing, to recapture an aspect of our original DNA. So now motor-racing continues to be about 50 percent of our universes.

Biver
“We will do special watches for Aston Martin. There will be cars with our watches on the dashboards. There will be watches that you can only buy if you have an Aston Martin. There will be an association with the racing team of Aston Martin.”

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What binds TAG Heuer and Aston Martin, and what can we expect from this collaboration?

We have a lot of things in common—history, heritage, tradition, success, design, power, mechanics, exclusivity, even partners. Aston Martin is with Red Bull and Gulf like we are. It’s a natural fit. We will do special watches for Aston Martin. There will be cars with our watches on the dashboards. There will be watches that you can only buy if you have an Aston Martin. There will be an association with the racing team of Aston Martin. So, it’s a 360-degree partnership, like Hublot’s association with Ferrari Scuderia and Ferrari.

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