Welcome to “My First Grail Watch,” a new interview series on aBlogtoWatch that explores the first major timepiece lusted after by important people in the watch industry.
aBlogtoWatch (ABTW): Who are you and what is your relationship to the watch industry?
Jean-Claude Biver (JCB): My passion is watches. And I am the lucky man who can work every day in his passion. Which means I don’t want to disconnect and don’t need weekends and holidays. I believe that working everyday in one’s passion is one of the greatest luxuries in life (the two others are health and love).
ABTW: What was your first grail watch?
JCB: The Omega Constellation which my grandfather offered me when I was eight years old. Later it was the Omega Speedmaster.
ABTW: Was there ever a time in your life when you could afford it?
JCB: I bought my first watch myself (Omega Speedmaster) in 1966. A watch that connected me to space.
ABTW: What did you like so much about the watch?
JCB: The fact that when I was looking at it, I did not see time, but I saw the Space Adventure and the Astronauts.
ABTW: Did you ever get it?
JCB: Yes, but each time I could afford it, I had another grail watch which then I could not afford. So somehow I have constantly a dream of the next watch which for the moment, I cannot afford.