In a surprise move, a consortium led by Montres Journe and comprising Chanel and Pierre Jacques, the former chief executive of De Bethune, has acquired Ebel from its longtime American owners, the Movado Group. According to the deal announcement, the consortium is buying 95% of Ebel for US$66.5 million, with the remaining shares to be retained by Movado.
The three-party consortium evidently brings different skills to the table, including the financial firepower of Chanel, the watchmaking know-how of François-Paul Journe, and the operational and managerial expertise of Mr Jacques, who will run the brand solo. Movado, on the other hand, might be relieved to have unloaded Ebel, which it unsuccessfully tried to revive over its two decades of ownership.
From left: François-Paul Journe, Efraim Grinberg of Movado, Frédéric Grangié of Chanel, and Pierre Jacques. Image – Pierre Jacques
Once a high flying brand that was one of the biggest in Switzerland during its 1980s and 1990s heyday, Ebel was famous for its Sport Classique, often nicknamed “wave”, which featured integrated bracelets resembling a wave. Launched in 1977, the model propelled Ebel into the stratosphere, with its workforce growing 15 times and revenue reaching nine figures by the 1980s.
Ebel was a luxury giant in the years just after the Quartz Crisis, and it was led during this time by Pierre-Alain Blum, grandson of its founders and a shrewd marketer. Amongst the indicators of Ebel’s success and scale during this period: Cartier turned to Ebel to produce Cartier watches, and Ebel was the biggest buyer of El Primero movements from Zenith.
But ill-fated diversifications forced Mr Blum to sell Ebel in 1994. The buyer was Investcorp, a Bahraini private equity firm that was once a major investor in the luxury business; amongst its holdings were Breguet, Tiffany & Co., and Gucci. Ebel then began a long decline, even as the wider luxury watch market enjoyed a decades-long boom.
LVMH bought the brand a few years later, and then sold it to Movado not long after – for about the same that Movado is selling the brand for some 23 years on. This sale leaves Movado with two brands, Movado and Concord, which like Ebel were once high-flying marques.
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