The Future of Ebel
Written by James Matthews
Largely perceived as a women’s brand in recent past, Ebel is taking a stab at the men’s mechanical watch market under the leadership of its new brand president Thomas van der Kallen.
As we greet the return of an estranged friend – with open arms and a pinch of doubt, followed by delight as we discover each defining characteristic intact – so we applaud Ebel’s return to the men’s mechanical watch arena. Under LVMH ownership between 1999 and 2003, the brand was slung towards the fashion end of the watch business, and in that time, it had come to be known largely as a maker of women’s watches, in particular steel watches with diamonds. Not a bad thing, if it hadn’t lost a fair chunk of its heritage in men’s watches in the process. That is about to change, we expect. Now owned by US-based Movado Group and led by its new brand president Thomas van der Kallen, Ebel is shifting gears, aligning its focus, staging a comeback in men’s mechanical watches. The chosen champion in this quest is the 1911 BTR collection of men-only watches, boasting proprietary mechanical movements, useful complications (GMT, perpetual calendar, chronograph) and most important of all, signature style of original 1911, in edgier dress for today’s market. Thomas van der Kallen speaks to REVOLUTION about the new Ebel, and how the watchmaker plans to reclaim its place in the male psyche, borne on the legitimacy and iconic design of the re-born 1911.
What do you think the Movado Group saw in Ebel when it acquired it from LVMH?
The Movado Group if you understand their culture is an entrepreneurial culture. Movado is a very big brand in the US, it’s not big anywhere else, except China where they’re going to do a real investment, and they have Concord. Being a very healthy half-a-billion dollar company, they were really looking for a brand that is really a crown in their portfolio, a brand that is truly international. And this is the motivation for group CEO Efraim Grinberg to acquire Ebel. It is his first acquisition, it’s his baby. For Movado Ebel is a true luxury brand, the crown of their portfolio and the only brand they have that is truly international. Ebel does business in 60 countries in the world and it’s truly Swiss. That is the position of Ebel within the Group, a strategic and daring acquisition. Many have asked me, what does Movado bring to Ebel? The Movado Group is brand builders. They know how to build brands; they’re in the branding business.
Tell us a little about yourself, and how you came to head Ebel.
I started working at the Richemont Group in 1990, with half of my career in Europe, and half in the US. I know the Grinberg family, and when Efraim was looking for someone to head Ebel, he took his time to ensure he got the right person. He acquired the brand in November 2004; I was hired in January 2005. What he wanted was not to hire an American; he felt it was very important for the community to have a European heading the brand rather than an American because Ebel is not an American brand, it’s a Swiss brand. We do more business outside the US than within. The US makes up about a third of our business.
What is the direction for Ebel?
Movado expects to build Ebel into a leading international Swiss luxury brand, capitalizing on our identity, tradition, DNA; to re-invent Ebel, to make it relevant in today’s market. If we look at the men’s market, we have lost a lot of ground. Some 85 percent of our business is in women’s watches, and many perceive Ebel as a women’s brand.
Interestingly, when we launched the 1911 in 1986, Ebel was really a watch that men aspired to. At that time, it was an expensive men’s chronograph retailing for S$6,000 – that was a lot of money in the late ’80s but it was a truly beautiful design. In the late ’80s, we did 60 percent of our business in ladies’ watches, and 40 percent in men’s watches – it was much more balanced than it is today. While the industry has developed very much in the men’s mechanical watch business, Ebel has been sidelined as a women’s brand, largely because during the time that Ebel was owned by LVMH, the latter positioned Ebel more as haute joaillerie, a ladies’ brand. That’s why the launch of the 1911 BTR is so important for us; it is a very important first-step in a very serious long-term commitment towards Ebel’s comeback in the men’s mechanical watch business.
That’s why we will develop the 1911 BTR as a men’s mechanical collection exclusively. Only for men, and only mechanical, for ever.
What sets the 1911 BTR apart from other men’s watches?
If you look at the men’s mechanical watch business, most of the companies really focus a lot on the technology and movement. Which is great. Our differentiation is we are a combination of distinct, recognizable, outstanding design, with impeccable finishing and details, superb technology and proprietary movements. If we put all the men’s watches out here on a table, with the Ebel, and you’d be able to spot the 1911 in an instant. And I think that’s so important today.
What do you mean by “proprietary movements”?
That a movement is developed by Ebel. When you’re a manufacture, you make the parts in-house yourself. We outsource the manufacturing of the parts, but these are exclusive Ebel movements not used by anyone else, they are 100 percent developed, assembled and tested by Ebel, in or workshop. This is proprietary, as opposed to manufacture. There are not many brands who claim to be manufactures, actually do. They many manufacture some parts, but not all. There are very, very, very few companies which actually manufacture all their own parts. “Proprietary”, “manufacture”… It’s all words. What is important for your readers is that it’s not a ETA-based movement, it’s not based on a 7750 or 2894-based – it’s an Ebel movement, period.
Tell us a little about your strategy for Asia.
Asia is very important for us – it is so diverse, I can’t really talk about Asia as “Asia”! Like Europe, Asia is not one single market but many. In particular, the Singapore market is very sophisticated, very demanding. Asia should represent 30-35 percent of a brand’s business. Ours stands at 15-20 percent. We need to grow that share. Our strategy is to focus on China where the Movado Group will investing heavily. We have two huge advantages when we go into China. First of all, our name, in Chinese is pronounced “yü bao”, is beautiful to pronounce and means jade treasure! Secondly, our styling is very suitable for the smaller Asian wrist. Our comfort and bracelet integration is outstanding – it’s unique in the business. I have an Asian-size wrist – you can see that the BTR still fits very well. This is a perpetual calendar chronograph – yet it doesn’t stick out from my wrist like a sore thumb. It will take time and investment; we have to increase our presence in China.
As a fusion of its past and modern sensibility, how does the 1911 BTR set itself apart from other fusion watches like the Zenith Defy and Hublot Big Bang?
It’s an Ebel. That means that although it’s a masculine product, it is very, very, sensual, soft, rounded; it’s less square and cut, harsh and sharp than the Big Bang and Defy. The BTR is very much an Ebel 1911 – its design is very much about case-bracelet integration. Nobody integrates a strap on a case like this. Nobody. It’s a very unique design, based on our heritage. When you wear an Ebel, you’ll know what I mean because it’s all about comfort.
The BTR Perpetual Calendar – does it pay homage to the 1984 Quantieme Perpetual?
We launched our first 1911 Classic QP in 1984, the first chrono, also a Classic, in 1982, that was based on the El Primero 134. The grandson of our founder, Pierre-Alain Blum, actually in the ’80s, when the whole business and industry was dominated by quartz, went to Zenith and asked them to start production of their El Primero. Prior to this Zenith had stopped production of the El Primero completely. So they re-started, and Pierre-Alain had the vision to launch mechanical chronographs in Ebel. And Ebel actually developed the 136 El Primero because we worked on the modules to develop the QP. So the QP in the ’80s was based on the 134, and today the QP is based on the 137, which is our automatic chronograph which we launched in 1995. So the difference between now and then is then it was based on the 134 El Primero, today it’s based on the 137 of Ebel, our proprietary integrated automatic in-house chronograph caliber.
Whose idea was it to have chronograph-style pushbuttons on the BTR GMT?
One of the important aspects of Ebel is to be innovative and different, and this is an example of this. I think men buy the chronograph because of the look, they don’t use the chronograph. Now they can wear an exciting chronograph look with a GMT function! I’m very excited about that. And it’s another way to differentiate yourself from all the other GMTs out there on the market. What is the story behind the development and evolution of the chronograph movement in the 1911 BTR? It’s the 137 caliber we launched in 1995. I explained earlier that Pierre-Alain Blum went to Zenith in the early 80s and asked them to start the El Primero again. At that time nobody was buying mechanical watches; it was all quartz. The automatic chronograph, first in the Classic, later in the 1911, which we launched in 1986, became so successful that at the late ’80s, it became such a big business for Ebel, that Pierre-Alain says, “I don’t want to be dependent on Zenith’s supply of movements.” First of all the price went up like crazy, because by that time in the late ’80s more brands were acquiring their movement, one of them being Rolex, who had the 134 in their Daytona. So Pierre-Alain with the price increasing all the time and the supply being inconsistent, decided with his movement technical team, that Ebel would develop its own automatic integrated chronograph, the 137. At that time, Ebel was producing many, many watches for Cartier – more than 100,000. So there was expertise when it comes to developing movements, although it was mostly quartz. And at that time our team of movement experts was looking to build a chronograph; we looked for a base we could use to build the chronograph. And we ultimately used a base from Lemania. Now Lemania at that time was buying movements from other companies with the idea of developing them. So the movement chosen by the Ebel technical team was actually an Omega — Lemania had just bought it from Omega, they didn’t do anything with it. From this, Ebel developed the 137 in five years. It started in 1990 with the signing of the agreement with Lemania to use the base – which they bought from Omega – which we Ebel developed. We made all the technical drawings, we did all the development, we paid for all the development, and we launched the movement in 1995, within the 1911 model.
With such a distinctive look about the 1911, does it hamper innovation?
In a very crowded market like todays, consistency for a brand means everything. For us, we are very consistent with what we do. We’re based on what we are, and our tradition. Our challenge is to shift the predominantly ladies’ image we have today, to a more balanced situation as we had in t he past. It will take some time and require more focus now on the men’s mechanical business, without departing from our sweet spot, our bread and butter, in diamond-and-steel ladies’ watches.
It’s an asset that the 1911 is so iconic, not an obstacle; what we need to do is to make it contemporary, to make it suitable for the market today; and that’s what we’ve done with the BTR. We’re not looking to do things radically different. We want to evolve the brand, to be more relevant to today’s marketplace, and especially for men, but to keep our traditions. We’re not planning a revolution!
What do you think of new technologies and materials that the watch making industry is incorporating from other fields?
I think it’s exciting because it brings variety. And the consumer today is ready for a serious watch, from a serious watch making company, using some of the cooler materials, to make a watch look… cool, edgy, different and modern. But is it always appropriate? Maybe not. For example, I think if Cartier were to come up with a ceramic watch, it would not be appropriate because it’s owned by Chanel. I think we have to be very careful in using some of the materials. When you talk about materials like rubber, kevlar – I think these are a bit more mainstream, not really owned by a brand in that sense, so here there will be more developments in searching for new materials and combinations of materials. I think that the combination of existing materials will be used in different ways as well. I think it adds to the excitement, I encourage it – within certain limits. We shouldn’t go overboard with exotic materials because it still has to be a watch with a perceived value to the consumer.
So is Ebel looking at new materials?
In a limited way. In an appropriate, limited way. We can’t put ceramic in our BTR, but we may use titanium, kevlar dial, some rubber, or pink gold bezel on a titanium watch – I think that is very appropriate. If it’s executed in the right proportion and the right design.
What drives Ebel?
We are the architects of time [Ebel slogan first coined in the '70s]. That’s a truly important signature and we see watchmaking and architecture having a lot in common. This is how we put a sting in on giving soul, depth and substance to the brand, that we are the architects of time, and everything we do is based in this spirit of the architects of time. What if our gambit doesn’t work? Like Chopard, this is very strong in jewelry watches. Then they had L.U.C, putting up great effort, selling manufacture status, in-house movements, and producing truly beautiful watches; but somehow, the market is not entirely convinced about Chopard and men’s watches.
Chopard doesn’t have what we have, which is a very strong 1911 in the late ’80s and early ’90s. We’ve given re-birth to something that existed in a meaningful, strong, legitimate way. And I think a lot of people will make that connection, and remember the 1911, and when they look at the design, they’re going to be excited about it. If I look at L.U.C, the issue is the design — it doesn’t look like a Chopard. This [the BTR] we agree looks like Ebel. That is the major difference. Chopard has no image as a man’s watch; the 1911 is an image. I can wake you up in the middle of the night; say “1911 BTR” and you would have an image in your mind.
Chopard doesn’t have an iconic image as a men’s watch from a design point of view. They make beautiful watches, and have put so much money into them in the last 10 years, but sales are limited because if you only think that making manufactured movements is enough, you’re off — it’s about the design. Why do you think the Royal Oak, Big Bang, Santos 100 are so successful? And the beauty of it is, we have the design, which is iconic and cemented in a lot of people’s minds. We’re not looking to target kids with this watch, but people who are 35 to 40 years old — they know about the 1911.
What else do you have in store for the 1911 BTR?
We launched in Bassel 2005 the Caliber 139 which is based on the 137. It’s a chronograph where you don’t use the counters but you have the beautiful discs, which is a unique way to read the chronograph. That’s a precious, beautiful item for collectors that we will launch in a BTR in 2007 in a very exciting execution. We’re also developing a fifth Ebel proprietary movement, to be launched in 2008, which will be used in a BTR. So there’s a lot in the pipeline, a lot to come that is truly exciting.
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This post was written by James Matthews. If you have any questions or comments you may contact him at james@jewelerslounge.com
