|
|
|
| Ebel Watch |
In the year 1911 Eugene and Alice Blum, nee Levy, founded the Ebel watchmaking business (a name created with the first initials of "Eugene Blum Et Levy") in the little Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Jura mountains. Just three years later, the brand was awarded the gold medal at a national exhibition for its technical and aesthetic qualities, and from then on established houses began to fit Ebel movements into their watches.
I n the 1980s and 1990s Ebel has enriched the watch world with elegant and sporty timekeepers, taking on the role of forerunner in contemporary wristwatch design. That hasn't changed, even though the ninety-year-old business was taken over by the LVMH Group (Louis Vuitton, Moet & Hennessy) in 1999. Guillaume Brochard, the brand's new president, handed his young, international team of employees the task of carefully adapting the brand's image while remaining strictly loyal to the characteristic aesthetic and qualitative Ebel attributes. The fact that fairly unusual products
could be created while doing this is in no way contradictory.
|  |
Brochard would like to breathe a breath of fresh air into the world of watches with an interesting concept from the world of fashion. The concept could be named" From Haute Couture to Preta-Porter" and truly works in the same way as the game that great fashion makers play: First, spectacular new watch models with extravagant fittings are shown during special eventsespecially unique pieces or radically limited special editions - and a little while later formal or thematically similar models of "wearable" quality and price find their way into the normal collection.
This is what is currently happening with the South Seas-themed Tarawa, a model which was formally introduced last year as a jewelry watch creation, now missing the opulent precious gems it was originally presented with. What has emerged is a visually interesting and well-designed watch that works well in all of the regular sizes from mini ladies' to an XXL men's chronograph.
At first, two new special editions of the 1911 line, whose dials only bear the number five,two hands and the Ebellogo, caused some confusion. The Silver 5 in stainless steel (1,500 pieces) and The Golden 5 in yellow gold (only five pieces) are certain collectors' tips, for the background behind this odd number is interesting. On April 2, 2003, Ebel rang in a new era in customer service by presenting an unlimited international five-year guarantee. Except for changing the battery after the first year and replacing old leather straps, all incalculable aspects of the new guarantee were covered. You have to have a lot of trust in the quality of your own products to venture such a step. We can only hope that the consumer will accept this initiative, and that it's successful for Ebel. And, of course, that many, many other manufacturers recognize this sign of the times and rethink their comparably lean guarantees. |
Ebel
750 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Tel: 212-888-3235
USA: 212-888-6719
www.ebel.ch
|
|
|
|
|
|
