How you choose to tell a story matters just as much as the story itself. A poem, a song, and a painting each have their own unique language that connect differently with the human spirit. Typically, we choose to tell our stories through watchmaking itself. But there are tales that can’t be told through springs and gears alone.

This is why we made Jean Claude Biver: Chasing Eternity, a short documentary film exploring the extraordinary life, career, and passion of our founder. This story and the emotions that have driven M. Biver for over 50 years in watchmaking are the animating force that created the Biver brand and empowers the people in our workshops. They are inseparable from the watches we create and the values imbued in each.

“One of the most memorable dreams I ever had was to be seated next to eternity,” M. Biver says as the film begins. “I think this is a very crazy and impossible dream. But it is a dream that is quite motivating. Because who doesn’t want to become eternal?”

From here, Chasing Eternity traces M. Biver’s path – from a boy given a watch by his grandfather, to a young man searching for his life’s passion, to a titan of the watch industry whose fingerprints can be found across the modern watchmaking landscape. It is a story of journeys, not destinations, and of believing in oneself. But, above all else, it is the deeply personal story of a man and his quest to first find himself and then to bring that sense of purpose to others, too.

“Since my teenage years, I’ve been captivated by Mr. Biver — not only for his extraordinary achievements in the watch industry, but also for his profound philosophy on life,” says the film’s director and cinematographer Basil Schneeberger. “I saw Chasing Eternity as an opportunity not just to recount a legendary career, but also to explore an angle that speaks to legacy and his personal reflections on life’s deeper questions.”

The story unfolds over a series of vignettes that highlight key moments in M. Biver’s life and career. They begin with his childhood and the first watch he was ever given, continues through to his discovery of watchmaking as an art and his central life’s passion, his revival of Blancpain, his years at Omega and Hublot, and on to TAG Heuer and Zenith before his retirement a few years ago. Old family photographs that have never been seen publicly, newspaper clippings from the various periods, and M. Biver’s honest reflections on how he was feeling offer an intimate glimpse into the life and career of a thoughtful man with a powerful spirit.

“Before filming began, I spoke with M. Biver and his words painted an image in my mind of a man standing on a hill, gazing up at the stars,” continues Schneeberger. “From this inspiration, I conceived the idea of opening and closing the film with M. Biver looking at the night sky and the rest of the narrative unfolded organically from there.” Ultimately, the film finds M. Biver retired from watchmaking and in a bit of a personal crisis. After a cycling accident, he decided to pick the torch back up with a new goal in mind: to pass it to his son, Pierre. The realization settles in that no man can reach eternity himself, but the closest we can get as human beings is to transmit our passions, our love, and our art to a new generation and to hope it endures in them after we are gone.

“It was important to portray M.Biver in a way that very few people get to see,” says Nolan Büchi, Biver’s marketing director and the producer of Chasing Eternity. “I spoke with him at length about not only showing his strength but also his vulnerabilities. We wanted to invite people to spend a meaningful amount of time with M. Biver, to hear his stories, his doubts, his ideas, his challenges, and, ultimately, his love for those around him and the industry he has helped shape over the past half-century.”

Chasing Eternity will be premiering online in just a few weeks, before the Christmas holiday, and we cannot wait to share it with you. “The most resonant part of making this film has been hearing audience reactions after screenings,” continues Büchi. “We’ve seen people moved to tears, reflecting on their own journeys and the relationships they share with their parents or children. Above all, this film has given us the chance to create beautiful memories and leave behind a lasting story that people will continue to connect with for many years to come.”

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Discover Basil Schneeberger work here.