Jean-Claude Biver on Zenith's Future

During this year's Geneva Watch Week, PuristSPro's Andrew Luff and Magnus Bosse sat together with Jean-Claude Biver (by many affectionately referred to as JCB), President of LVMH's watch devision and very recently appointed also as (interim) CEO of Zenith. Onboard the LMVH watch boat we talked intensively and openly with JCB on his most recent challenge.



PPro: When you announced earlier in 2016 that you from now on wanted to devote more of your time to Zenith, many of us industry observers appreciated this more as a warning than as an offer. And indeed, before the end of the year Aldo Magada resigned as CEO, and you stepped in. That is quite a statement!

JCB: Well, if you take human nature and propensities into account you won’t be surprised. Humans, from the bottom of their heart, hate change. But Zenith needed a wake-up call, thus I came in and opened the windows to let fresh air fill the workshops. Many welcomed the oxygen, others feared the cold, and left the room. That gave us opportunity to bring in new people, with new skills and new ideas. People from outside LVMH. Fresh people!


(JCB with yours truly: how to define the DNA of Zenith?)

PPro: Where does Zenith stand currently?

JCB: Honestly, we have too little turnover, and this creates immense repercussions on our overall ability to gain traction. We sell about 18.000 watches/year, spread into four collections, at an average selling price of about 8000 CHF. We have about 800 retail outlets worldwide, including our boutiques, some of them selling less than 1 piece/month. Now imagine a retailer - what incentive does he or she have to intensively train the staff on all subtleties of the Zenith offerings? I can really understand that the return for many is too low to invest (into sales staff training on Zenith). Thus, we have to reduce our collection, and we have to concentrate our retail network as well.


(JCB is a dedicated and enthusiastic diary farmer and produces his own excellent Gruyère cheese. The waiters on the boat had precise instructions how the cheese was to be cut and present)

PPro: How would you define the DNA of Zenith?

JCB: Amongst collectors, Zenith is known for its landmark El Primero Chronograph, for technical watches with ample chronometric pedigree, for elegance. But normal customers would not know, and how could they? I said it before, Zenith has too many different watches on offer. That Zenith DNA has to be made clearer, more pronounced, sharpened. Right now I am thinking about the lines of ‘less is more’ and ‘art is eternity (eternity on your wrist)’. That includes also more functional dials, specifically the phasing out of excessively overlapping dials. But this cannot be rushed, it is a long time to go! Ultimately, Zenith, its watches and the customer is what shall define the brand, not only ambassadors or events.


(JCB, together with PuristSPro.com moderator Andrew Luff, inspecting a *special* watch...)

PPro: Watch blog Hodinkee has encouraged Zenith to develop an ultimately elegant, strictly limited chronograph which (rightfully) created a lot of attention worldwide. Shortly after, during the Geneva Watch Week in January, Zenith presented their own version of this watch. What exactly is the relationship between these pieces?

JCB: Indeed, when the Hodinkee watch was developed and from the 1st second on, it was not really clear that we would do another variation. But from the 2nd second (once we saw the first drawings and prototypes) we knew that we would have to come up with a similar design where ‘less is more’ would be best expressed and visible. One can say that the merit of the Hodinkee watch was the fact that it gave us the courage and the input to go ahead with a ‘less is more’ concept.
I am pleased today that we did it, and I believe it's even the first (at least our version) chronograph designed with the ‘less is more’ concept. That being said, we will go on with the Hodinkee version and are going in future to suggest to them other colours of the dial and the strap and keep them in a very limited edition.


(The new Zenith Heritage 146 collection and the *corpus delicti*)

MB: For us collectors, Zenith is tied with the El Primero, a more than 45 years old movement. Rejuvenating a brand with such a history, and a history that is closely intertwined with a single movement, this I assume is a huge challenge?

JCB: Yes, it will certainly be my last and eventually most difficult challenge, which excites me a lot and gives me wings… I love the difficulty and have always had a preference for that rather than the easy tasks!


MB: How do you work on reshaping Zenith, in practical terms?

JCB: Honestly, I am operating quite like a cow: eat quickly - then ruminate and digest for hours. I am now thinking more about Zenith than I have ever thought about a brand in my life. Zenith is now constantly in my brain, in my blood and in my heart. It will not be an easy task especially as we have also to respect and conquer people who are not collectors. I am assembling all the ideas I get from esteemed people like you and again I thank you for it.



PPro: Thank you, Jean-Claude, for your frank and open remarks!

JCB: I am really pleased that we have an open exchange and that we can communicate about our ideas of Zenith - with you and the entire PuristS’ Zenith enthusiast crew!


Thanks for reading,
Magnus