News
Movado agrees to sell 95% of Ebel to a Journe-led group
The US$66.5 million agreement would give a group including Montres Journe, Chanel and Pierre Jacques control of Ebel, subject to closing.
Hen & Mills Editorial · 3 min read · 9 October 2026
Ownership changes can sound remote until they involve a watch name people can still picture. Ebel's Sport Classic, with its wave bracelet and unmistakable case, belongs in that category. On 8 October, Movado Group said it had signed a binding agreement to sell a 95 per cent interest in Ebel for US$66.5 million to a buyer group led by Montres Journe SA, with Chanel and Pierre Jacques participating. The proposed deal is substantial, but it has not closed.
What the agreement actually covers
Movado's announcement puts the US$66.5 million consideration against 95 per cent of a newly formed Swiss Ebel subsidiary, subject to customary adjustments and closing conditions. Movado would retain the other five per cent. The group says the closing is expected in the next few months, which is an expectation rather than a date to put in a diary. There is no announced change to an individual Ebel watch's price or availability in the statement, and treating this as a product launch would miss the point.
The assets involved extend beyond the name on the dial. Movado says the trademarks, other intellectual property, inventory and certain other assets primarily dedicated to Ebel will move to the Swiss subsidiary. The list includes Villa Turque, the modernist house designed by Le Corbusier. Certain staff dedicated to Ebel would also become employees of that entity. At closing, the buyer group would take 95 per cent of its equity; Movado says it would provide transition services afterwards. Those details matter because they describe a business transfer, rather than a simple licensing arrangement.
Journe, Chanel and a different kind of ownership group
Montres Journe SA is the lead buyer, according to Movado, while Chanel and Pierre Jacques are participants. The announcement says Jacques will become Ebel's chief executive after the transaction. Calling the group a single new owner would flatten an important distinction: the proposed ownership is shared, and Movado plans to keep a minority interest. Nor does the release give a breakdown of how the buyers would divide their 95 per cent. That is a blank space, and it should stay one until the parties fill it.
Ebel was founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1911, and Movado identifies the Sport Classic among its current collections. It is a brand with a recognisable design language, yet one whose future product direction the announcement does not set out. I find that more interesting than a confident prediction about what François-Paul Journe or Chanel will do to the catalogue. An agreement changes the people with a say in that question; it does not answer the question itself.
Movado frames the disposal as a way to concentrate on its accessible luxury and fashion watch and jewellery portfolio. That explanation comes from the seller's own announcement, and it is reasonable to read it as a statement of strategy rather than a verdict on Ebel's watches. The same release says the buyer group is intended to give Ebel resources and dedicated attention. Neither proposition is a measurable outcome yet. The useful thing for readers today is the structure of the deal, the price and the conditions still between an announcement and new ownership.
The next date that matters is closing
For now, Ebel remains in the interval between a signed agreement and a completed sale. Movado's own cautionary language allows for the timetable to change or for the transaction not to complete, and the final consideration can move with the agreed adjustments. Pierre Jacques's proposed chief executive role is likewise tied to the transaction. If the deal closes as described, a Journe-led group will control Ebel while Movado retains five per cent. Until then, the honest headline is an agreement, not a handover.
