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Jean-Claude Biver commits to seven more years driving Zenith into the future

Zenith will be the last watch company that Jean-Claude Biver will lead, the legendary watch executive told a press conference at Baselworld yesterday.

But if LVMH executives think they should be preparing a pitch for the top job when Mr Biver retires, they should relax. The 68-year-old said he intends to continue for another seven years and will leave the business at the age of 75.

The aim of Mr Biver’s first Baselworld press conference since taking over as CEO of Zenith was to show how the brand is being re-energised under his stewardship.

He has demanded the brightest minds from LVMH stablemates Hublot and TAG Heuer come together once a week for a brainstorming session on technology, design, marketing and sales for Zenith.

Mr Biver says that Zenith must establish a path to the future or risk obscurity. “We must bring the past into the future. We must connect to tomorrow. We must not become a museum brand,” he said.

Zenith will be positioned as the horological leader within LVMH with the most accurate movements. Mr Biver said that 20% of the company’s turnover would be directed towards research and development, leading to innovations that would sell themselves. “We need a technological revolution at Zenith, embracing the best ideas of TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith. Our creativity and inventions will do their own marketing,” he described.

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