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Staff post about: Jean-Claude Biver Become an Author

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Before Omega entered the Chinese market under Biver's leadership, it was largely overlooked by the rest of the world. "Omega was very clever to be the first brand to handle the Chinese market in a proper way - it's not a market where you ship all the goods that you cannot sell in other markets (as was the norm in those days)," says Biver. "We had to treat them as well as we would treat the Swiss market, or the US market."

Biver worked to sow the seeds of success in China, namely by demonstrating a long-term and earnest presence.

"To demonstrate our seriousness, the first thing Omega did was set up proper service centres. In fact, at one point, Omega had more people working in the service centres than we had working in sales," he says. "That was very important - the only other example in history where this happened was when Volkswagen set up shop in the United States: they first built the service centres before selling the cars because they wanted a reputation of reliability.

"The retailers welcome Omega in a very positive way because we were helping them. Within ten years, Omega was the undisputed number one brand in China."

Beyond being just a strategic expansion plan, Omega's entry into China also proved one thing: Biver's ability to read and adapt to a market.

"We must always have our eyes and ears open. One has constantly to listen to the market and be able to evolve and change," he says. "The world is not static and a brand has to constantly adapt its concepts, products and DNA to the changes."

Biver understood that respect and recognition were very important in China, and he knew that any attempt to be successful in the Chinese market would require a demonstration of respect, which came in the form of the service centres.

Added to this, says Biver, is the understanding that a brand is not acting alone and often times, is acting in actual cooperation with its competitors.

"It is not a fight," he says. "You see, the stronger Omega, Rolex or Longines becomes in China, the more they help to create a market for ‘the next watch'. Sure, the consumer will first buy Omega or Rolex, but soon he will want another watch. So, now brands like Panerai, Richard Mille and Hublot have to work on presenting themselves as ‘the next watch'. Ultimately, an evolution in consumer taste is inevitable.

"I think that 15 years ago, it would have been impossible for Richard Mille, Panerai or Hublot to have a foothold in China because the market had not yet matured. But thanks to Omega, Rolex and Longines, the market has now grown - it has matured to a level where consumers are moving beyond these mass-appeal brands, as seen in other more sophisticated markets of the world. So you see, the foundation that has been built with Rolex, Omega and Longines, and the future of the watch market in China is proportional to the strength of this base."

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