It is an exciting new and unique timepiece that Pierre and Jean-Claude Biver presented at the Salon Internacional de Alta Relojería (SIAR), the trade show devoted to upscale watches, in Mexico City last October. This latest watch celebrates the remarkable Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, in which dead ancestors are all a part of the celebrations. The father and son worked in collaboration with Joel Niño – a Mexican artist – to create this unique timepiece, La Danse du Temps (The Dance of Time). Like the house of Biver’s first watch released last March, this festive timepiece is the same Carillon Tourbillon outfitted with a minute repeater, a carillon, a tourbillon and with a  stone dial. Just about everything a watch lover dreams of. 

This unique piece, nestled into a 42mm case, is in rose gold with an onyx dial featuring sandblasted motifs representing the traditional Mexican elaborate decorative craft known as the «papel picado» and hand-engraved rose gold appliques representing one of Mexico’s most famous symbols: calaveras, a representation of a human skull or skeleton within the context of the Day of the Dead,- inspired by those of the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera – in particular his emblematic catrina, a richly decorated female skeleton. The Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, usually celebrated on November 1st or 2nd, is an irreplaceable tradition, and has the particularity of giving a positive approach to death and the afterlife. This is why skeletons are always painted with a smile or a joyful action, the idea of which has been taken up on the dial of this unique piece: the dancing couple symbolizing eternal love. Pierre and Jean-Claude Biver have united watchmaking tradition and Mexican tradition in a unique timepiece that pays tribute to high horology and Mexican culture through eternity. 

Jean-Claude Biver, after 50 years in the watchmaking industry and his son Pierre embarked upon a new adventure last March: the creation of a highly exclusive and prestigious watch brand. It is dedicated to a watchmaking complication that father and son hold close to their hearts, a minute repeater. When asked what he wanted to bring to watchmaking by creating a new brand, Jean-Claude Biver replied, « What I would like to bring to the world of watchmaking is soul. I want our brand to deal not only with watchmaking technology, but also with the art of watchmaking. The art of watchmaking, like any art, has a soul within it and this soul was transmitted to the object by the artist. » ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. https://jcbiver.com/en