Biver Opens First Global Lounge in Hong Kong

Swiss luxury watchmaker Biver is opening its first global lounge in Hong Kong at The Upper House. The brand, which was founded by industry veteran Jean-Claude Biver and his son Pierre Biver back in 2022, is expanding its international presence, operating in partnership with Shoyo Kawamura to create a retail experience that embodies the values of neoclassical watchmaking. Kawamura is the director and co-founder of the lounge and now leads the brand’s operations in Hong Kong.

Opening the brand’s first global lounge in Hong Kong’s prestigious The Upper House hotel was a strategic and calculated move for Biver. Hypebeast was invited by the Jean-Claude and Pierre to tour the new space and to sit down for a conversation with the industry legend. When asked about his visits to Hong Kong, Jean-Claude was quick to share enthusiastically, “I’ve been here 100 times in 50 years…about four or five times a year.” When guests enter the lounge, they are greeted by warm natural wood and expansive windows that flood the space with natural light and frame the incredible views of the Hong Kong harbour. A special viewing desk is installed with a microscope to get a closer look at the unique movements of Biver’s signature timepieces, including the Carillon Tourbillon and Automatique models.

In a statement, Jean-Claude said of the space, “We want our customers to feel ‘at home,’ rather than in a store. As a family business, it is extremely important for our clients to feel like an extended part of the family. This is why our physical spaces are so important – they help us create this warm, welcoming atmosphere and foster genuine connections.” This is true to Biver’s way of business and attention to detail that they hope to instill into their customers to set them apart from other luxury watch brands. Kawamura remarks on the “deep sense of family at the heart of Biver” and how it is a testament to the brand’s authenticity. Hypebeast sat down with Jean-Claude and Pierre Biver to discuss the brand’s legacy and future.

Hypebeast: Biver has brought its first global lounge to Hong Kong. What does Hong Kong mean to the watch market and why was it important to choose this city for your debut?

JCB:Hong Kong has had a development in the 50 years that is enormous…enormous. It’s an enormous privilege to be able to do this with my son [Pierre] . There is 51 years between us…he can be my grandson… ha! But it’s important to bring the global lounge here because Hong Kong is an important place. It’s lost a bit of its importance worldwide, but for the region and for wealthy people, Hong Kong is still Hong Kong and Hong Kong will remain Hong Kong.

The city has remained an important place for us, and especially for watches. You have an incredible number of connoisseurs, you have a big number of collectors. There is a natural trend to understand watches. People are understanding. Hong Kong is an important strategic point for the development of the brand and we have started our partnership because we just believe in Hong Kong.

Pierre: Adding to what my father has to say, I think Hong Kong as a city with its energy, its history, its culture — it is really the perfect place for a brand like ours, which is based around emotion and human interaction. I think Hong Kong is a perfect match between the city and what we’re trying to create, because it has this soul. I love Singapore too and it has a lot of qualities, but one thing is that it misses that energy, it misses that sacred fire that Hong Kong has and I think it matches perfectly with what we’re trying to create.

Hong Kong maybe have has been a bit looked away from, but it’ still has a stronghold. But because of the fact that people might be wanting to look away from the city, that is the time to activate and to take advantage of this situation. When people are looking away from something, that’s when we want to come in and grab the opportunity becaus we see something here.

Jean-Claude, you’re known for your disruptive strategies and it’s safe to say that part of your successes Can you describe a time when you took a calculated risk and what were the key factors to maintaining that success?

JCB: The biggest risk I took was to launch a mechanical watch when everyone was giving up on when everybody was giving up mechanical watches to replace their collection with quartz watches. Quartz was supposed to be the future because it has an extraordinary accuracy. It is extraordinary cheap to produce, but you can still sell it expensively because it doesn’t need watchmakers. Quartz was eating the whole industry and it was making the whole industry old fashioned. But at the time, I thought that’s not possible. There must be a market. If everybody goes into quarts, there must be a market for going back…back to the future.

We were saying we go back to the future, which means mechanical watches that make that you can hear. We decided that we should go back to mechanical and by going back, we were different, we were unique, and we were the only ones.i If you are first to be different and unique, you have a winner in your hands…And, if you have a winner in your hands, you should play poker, because everybody knows you’re gonna win. That’s a good advice.

You’ve famously resurrected brands like Blancpain and Hublot. Looking back, what single piece of advice would you give to someone taking on a similar challenge – revitalizing a struggling brand in a competitive market – that might surprise them or go against conventional wisdom?

JCB: I believe in human beings and having a relationship with what you buy.

Pierre: If I may jump in — my father is too humble to say or maybe he doesn’t want to reveal his tricks. For people who would be in a similar position to him helping a brand restructure itself, I think that one of my father’s main qualities is his ability to flip situations and to really deal with the odds that you’re given. You cannot control anything that comes your way. The only thing can control is how you react. I think that is really something that people should learn to deal with. We tend to freeze in situations when we are in fear and maybe stuck in a position. I think most people that’s where they see their limit. But for my father he is someone who faces adversity.

JCB: I always try to be the contrarian. When everyone goes in one direction, I go the other one.

After spending decades in the industry, you’ve presumably seen thousands of watches. In a market where we are overwhelmed with different brands, what features does a watch have to have for you to be interested?

JCB: A watch must give me an emotion. I’m hungry for emotions, and sometimes I think we don’t have enough emotions. We have a lack of emotion. We have a lack of love, we have a lack of happiness, we have a lack of security. In 1967, The Beatles released a song called “All You Need Is Love.” That’s it. That’s the conclusion. Love means I respect you. Love means I share with you. So you see, love is a general definition.

Throughout your career, you make sure that the art of watchmaking is never lost. You started the Biver brand with your son Pierre, how do you stay true to that blend of classic horology with what the contemporary watch market demands?

JCB: I call this neoclassic. On one side it’s modernity, on the other it’s tradition. Modernity and tradition are fused together because it has inspiration from yesterday and visions of tomorrow. I am the owner of yesterday and of tomorrow. It means I’m alive to see tomorrow and have seen yesterday. Neoclassic also combines our two passions — the passion of design and the passion of technique. There’s also the design of movement and finding the beauty in it.

Can you share your predictions on what you think the watch market will look like in the future?

JCB: The future is sometimes very unexpected and it means you must be ready. You must be ready for the unexpected because the unexpected will happen sooner or later. You must be ready and have the flexibility to adapt. Very few if not most cannot adapt. They have their habits. So adaptation is very important and knowing that tomorrow will not be like today.

Pierre: Today, the secondary watch market have changed the way we sell watches. With social media too, society as a whole is moving very fast with so much information, changing trends and everything moving at a faster pace. So I think brands today need to take that into consideration, to have a smooth transition into the next phase and to restabilize and give their consumers a personal experience. That will set them apart.

The Biver Lounge
The Upper House
88 Queensway
Admiralty, Hong Kong

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