Under the terms of the binding agreement, the buyer group—which also includes veteran industry executive Pierre Jacques—will acquire a 95% stake in Ebel. Movado Group, whose shares are publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, will retain a 5% minority interest in the business when the transaction is officially finalized.
The transaction marks a significant new chapter for Ebel, a brand that once reigned supreme among the elite manufacturers of the Swiss watch industry before falling into relative obscurity under corporate ownership. The move also underscores a broader, growing market trend of prominent luxury houses and independent master watchmakers investing in the revival of historic, faded Swiss marques. Earlier this year, Breitling acquired the Universal Genève brand and its archives for more than CHF 60 million with plans to relaunch it as a high-end luxury house.
Pierre Jacques, who previously served as the CEO of De Bethune for over a decade, is set to take the reins as the new chief executive officer of Ebel. Meanwhile, Movado Group will transfer trademarks, intellectual property, inventory, and various core assets dedicated to the Ebel business into a newly formed Swiss subsidiary. This transfer crucially includes the Villa Turque, the iconic modernist house designed by legendary architect Le Corbusier in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, which has long served as a historic home and creative symbol for the brand.
Founded in 1911 by Eugène Blum and Alice Lévy—whose married names combined to form the iconic acronym EBEL—the brand remained under family ownership for decades. It achieved its greatest heights during the tumultuous quartz crisis era of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Under the leadership of Pierre-Alain Blum, a third-generation family member with a brilliant instinct for clever marketing and contemporary design, Ebel grew into one of the five largest Swiss watch manufacturers.
At its zenith, the company operated a robust vertically integrated setup, producing its own quartz movements and components, and employing more than 500 people at its Swiss manufacture. Ebel was so well-regarded for its precision and manufacturing capabilities that it even produced watches for Cartier during the era. The brand became globally famous for its signature "Wave bracelet," introduced alongside the popular Sport Classique model in 1911.
The brand’s cultural cachet reached legendary status in the 1980s when actor Don Johnson wore an Ebel 1911 chronograph powered by a Zenith El Primero movement while playing Detective James "Sonny" Crockett in the hit television series Miami Vice. Today, those neo-vintage chronographs have transformed into coveted collector’s items. High-profile collectors have championed the brand’s heritage, notably Alfredo Paramico, who sent shockwaves through the vintage market by offering a substantial portion of his personal Ebel collection at a dedicated thematic auction hosted by Phillips in 2024.
Despite its golden era, financial pressures linked to unrelated business ventures forced the Blum family to sell Ebel in 1994 to Investcorp, a Bahrain-based private equity group. Five years later, in 1999, LVMH acquired Ebel as part of an aggressive wave of watch sector acquisitions that also brought TAG Heuer and Zenith into the French conglomerate’s portfolio. Zenith had historically supplied automatic movements to Ebel for its chronographs before those movements were famously utilized by Rolex in the iconic Daytona.
In 2004, Movado Group purchased Ebel from LVMH with the intention of revitalizing its global footprint. However, under successive corporate owners following the departure of the Blum family, Ebel struggled to recapture the market share, prestige, and sales volumes it had enjoyed during its independent family-run era.
While the newly formed consortium and leadership team have kept specific product roadmaps under wraps, the industry heavyweights involved point to an uncompromising dedication to craftsmanship. A spokesperson for F.P. Journe—the elite independent watchmaker whose contemporary timepieces command soaring valuations on both the primary market and secondary auction circuits—declined to comment beyond the initial press release.
However, François-Paul Journe offered a clear philosophical statement regarding the path ahead for the brand. "Like Michelangelo and so many others after him: the product, the product, the product," Journe said. "Ebel has always stood for exceptional product, and I am delighted to contribute to its next chapter alongside my friends and partners."
For Chanel, the investment in Ebel represents another strategic chess move in the French luxury house’s broader campaign to cement its influence within the upper echelons of Swiss watchmaking. Chanel already owns a 20% stake in F.P. Journe and has steadily acquired equity stakes across a diverse portfolio of elite watchmaking entities, including Romain Gauthier, Max Büsser & Friends, Tudor-controlled movement manufacturer Kenissi, Bell & Ross, and Kross Studios.
"Ebel is one of the great names of Swiss watchmaking, with a rich heritage, a distinctive creative identity and a strong foundation for future growth," said Frédéric Grangié, President of Chanel Fine Watches and Jewelry. "This investment reflects our confidence in the brand’s long-term potential and our commitment to supporting its development while preserving the craftsmanship, excellence and values that have defined Ebel for generations."
Under the proposed corporate transaction, select personnel currently employed by Movado Group who are dedicated to the Ebel business will transition over to the newly established Swiss subsidiary. Movado expects the transaction to officially close in the coming months, at which point the 95% equity interest in the new subsidiary will be officially transferred to the buyer group, setting the stage for one of the most anticipated brand revivals in modern horological history.
