Jean-Claude Biver, after nearly 50 years in the watchmaking industry, and his 22-year-old son Pierre have together embarked on a new adventure: the creation of a highly exclusive and prestigious brand.
The first chapter of this story, which is just beginning to unfold, is dedicated to a watchmaking complication that is close to their hearts: a minute repeater. Or more precisely, a minute repeater with a tourbillon and a micro rotor.
“We want the minute repeater to be the cornerstone of the brand, made to a design we both could identify with, and with a movement that serves the aesthetic we defined. A contemporary watch, inspired by tradition and representative of both my father and me.”
Pierre Biver
When you take the time to look at all the details that make the Biver minute repeater unique, that’s when you begin to understand the relentless, uncompromising pursuit of perfection behind this watch. Even the smallest parts, including those that cannot be seen, have been decorated by hand according to the highest standards of artistry; they have been polished, satin-finished, grained, and flame-blued.
This watch is not one to reveal all its mysteries at first glance. Each one of its constituent elements holds meaning in the eyes of the Bivers. It gives us much more than the hour, the quarters and the minutes. This model is a distillation of watchmaking culture that is aimed at the enlightened enthusiast. The five-link metal bracelet is specially designed for the brand. But here the links seem to want to break away from the shadow to better enter the light.
The beauty of the watch comes from a juxtaposition of contradictory elements: satin and polished finishes, straight lines and roundness, shadow and light, past and present, sound and silence. From this tension, a balance is born. All the components contained in this watch, all the materials, all the finishes, form a whole as alive as the two people who chose them and who entrusted to others – “the hands that make the miracle” – the task of constructing this minute repeater.
Technical Specifications:
Name: Carillon Tourbillon Biver
Functions: Hours, minutes, tourbillon, carillon minute repeater, micro-rotor
Movement: JCB-001
Type: Automatic caliber, wound by micro-rotor
Winding and setting the time: via the crown (2 positions)
Caliber characteristics
Number of components: 374
Jewels: 44 rubies
Diameter: 34 mm
Power reserve: 72 hours
Specificity: platinum micro-rotor with decorative plate in rose gold
Frequency: 21,600 vibrations per hour (3Hz)
Decorations: white gold bridges, black-polished and grained; steel components, black-polished and satin-finished; bevels, black-polished and straight-grained
Display
Display: gold hour and minute hands (rose gold or white gold), satin-finished and hand-beveled
Dial: Domed sodalite or silver obsidian hardstone
Applied gold hour markers (rose gold or white gold)
Case and bracelet
Case material: Titanium or rose gold or rose gold/titanium
Case diameter: 42 mm
Case thickness: 13.70 mm
Crystal: Sapphire with inner anti-reflective coating
Caseback: display back with sapphire crystal
Water resistance: 5 ATM (50 meters, approx. 160 feet)
Bracelet: Titanium or rose gold or Rose gold/Titanium, exclusive five-link BIVER design
Leather strap included
Buckle: Buckle and pin (leather strap) in rose gold or titanium
Price (excl.tax): starting at CHF 520,000 / EUR 520,000 / USD 550,000