Nice interviews from Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Hublot

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I like more and more (high-end) watches. The role of the brand, the incredible high technological sophistication – but still manually produced and 100% mechanical ! -, the emotion generated by this kind of watches…

I have discovered in the last time three great brands, quite different from each others: Hublot, Panerai, and U-Boat. I have published an article about Hublot last year.

As the BaselWorld Show is now taking place in Basel / Switzerland (the biggest luxury conference in the world), a lot of interviews and reports are going on in the media. A good opportunity to listen to Jean-Claude Biver, the CEO of Hublot, who is very well-known in the high-end watch industry because of his huge success with BlancPain (he successfully re-launched this company and its brand in the 1980’s, before sending it to Omega and being integrated in the Swatch Group) and now with Hublot. A visionary, full of energy and ideas, very people-oriented. So, a lot to learn here on leadership ;-)

So, first, in the last “Bilanz” newspaper (April 2008, in German), you can find a great interview of Mr. Biver. He is giving the some business figures concerning Hublot in this interview:

  • 2004:
    • revenues: 26 mio CHF
    • loss: 2.4 mio CHF
    • number of watches produced: 11’900
  • 2007:
    • revenues: 177 mio CHF
    • profit: 28 mio CHF
    • number of watches produced: 24’900
  • 2008 (forecast):
    • revenues: 250 mio CHF
    • profit: 40 mio CHF
    • number of watches produced: 33’000

I was also happy (and not surprised) to read that Mr. Biver’s preferred watch is the “Big Bang 44mm All Black” model, which is actually absolutely fantastic!

big bang all black

During our last stay in St Barth beginning of this year, I also had the chance to see the Hublot Saint Barth special model. But I cannot find any information or picture online for this model. Arrrgggg :-)

Another interesting interview, this time a video in English with Mr. Biver, for the Herald Tribune. Quite funny. He is explaining that Hublot is offering a piece of his own cheese to its guests at BaselWorld! And, somebody saying that his four passions are his family, watches, cheese and wine, cannot be a bad guy ;-)

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