Ebel

Ebel was founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1911 by the husband and wife Eugène Blum and Alice Lévy; the name is formed from 'Eugène Blum Et Lévy'. Their grandson Pierre-Alain Blum expanded the firm internationally from the 1970s and created the Sport Classic of 1977, with its integrated bracelet of wave-shaped links, which became Ebel's signature.

Ebel was bought by Investcorp in 1994, sold to LVMH in 1999 and acquired by Movado Group in 2004.

How to recognise the work: dials are signed Ebel. Watches from before the 1970s are mostly small dress watches in gold or steel, many of them for women. From 1977 the Sport Classic has a bezel fixed by five screws and a bracelet of wave-shaped links, and the later 1911 line, named after the founding year, shares the five-screw bezel. The 1911 Chronograph of the 1980s uses Ebel's Calibre 134, built on the Zenith El Primero.

The company's own history credits Alice Lévy with design and Eugène Blum with the technical side, yet a prize certificate for a patented ring watch in 1914 was issued to 'Messieurs Blum & Cie'. Their son Charles took over in 1929 and built an export network that reached the United States; in the 1970s Ebel also made wristwatches for Cartier.

In 1981, after Zenith had stopped making mechanical chronographs, Ebel bought unassembled El Primero movements and launched its Calibre 134 chronograph in 1982 — a step credited with helping the El Primero back into production. For its 75th anniversary in 1986 Ebel bought Le Corbusier's Villa Turque in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and the 1911 Chronograph worn by Don Johnson in Miami Vice made the brand a symbol of the decade.