Chanel Expands Brand Footprint Through Watchmaking Acquisitions and Cultural Partnerships

The Business of Watches Podcast TanTan Wang And Griffin Bartsch On New York Watch Week And What It Says About The Market Introducing The Porsche Design Chronograph 1 Utility – Limited Edition for Hodinkee Consortium of buyers, including François-Paul Journe and French luxury group Chanel, buys 95% stake in Ebel for $66.5 million. E bel, once one of the most successful and top-selling Swiss watch brands, which has fallen into relative obscurity under the ownership of Movado Group, is being sold to a consortium of high-profile buyers, including François-Paul Journe and Chanel, who plan to revive the Ebel marque with hopes of returning it to its former glory. Movado Group, Inc. says it entered into a binding agreement to sell a 95% interest in the Ebel brand for $66.5 million to a strategic buyer group led by Geneva-based Montres Journe SA, with the participation of French luxury house Chanel and Pierre Jacques, a long-time industry executive. Jacques, who previously headed De Bethune for more than a decade, will take over as CEO of Ebel while Movado, with shares publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which purchased the brand from LVMH in 2004, will retain a 5% stake in the business when the deal is completed, the parties said in a statement. The agreement underscores the growing business interest in reviving faded luxury Swiss watch brands once revered by watch consumer

Follow Us * Icon Link Plus Icon * Icon Link Plus Icon * Icon Link Plus Icon * Icon Link Plus Icon * Icon Link Plus Icon * Icon Link Plus Icon * News * Market * Artists * ARTnews Recommends * Top 200 Collectors * Digital Issues * ARTnews Awards * Art in America Plus Icon Click to expand the Mega Menu Menu Read Next ### Pace CEO Marc Glimcher Responds to Reports of Financial Losses, Says Gallery Will Open New Location in Europe # Chanel Becomes Lead Sponsor of Hong Kong’s M+ Museum in Expanded Three-Year Deal * U.S. Pavilion at Venice Biennale Is $1 M. Short, and Its Sculptures May Be Stuck in Italy * Suspected Thieves Flee Dresden Museum Complex After Being Spotted by Security Guard * Dallas Art Fair Is Moving to Southern Methodist University in 2027 Hong Kong's M+ museum.©Virgile Simon Bertrand/Courtesy Herzog & de Meuron Chanel is deepening its relationship with Hong Kong’s M+ museum, signing on as its lead partner for the next three years and expanding its support beyond film to exhibitions, artist programs, and other projects. The French luxury house has backed M+, the contemporary visual culture museum in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, since 2023. The partnership has until now mostly focused on experimental cinema, film restoration, and building the museum’s moving-image collection. The new agreement, announced Wednesday, will bring Chanel into a much broader r

In a recent announcement by the Movado Group, Ebel is set to be acquired by a strategic buyer group led by Montres Journe SA , with the participation of Chanel (partial owner of F.P. Journe) and industry veteran and ex-CEO of De Bethune , Pierre Jacques. The latter will serve as Chief Executive Officer of Ebel. The Group of investors have entered into an agreement with the American Movado Group. The transaction is subject to customary adjustments, and a 95% interest in Ebel will be acquired for USD 66.5 million – the Movado Group will retain a 5% stake in the brand. An important name in Swiss watchmaking, Ebel was founded in 1911 in La Chaux-de-Fonds – the company was named after the initials of the founder and his wife , Eugene Blum Et Alice Levy. The brand was remarkably successful in the 1970s and 1980s, in particular under the management of the charismatic Pierre Alain Blum. With its chic quartz watches, the company was still thriving while the quartz crisis hit the industry. Ebel was also manufacturing Cartier watches under licence since the 1970s. But because of unfortunate investments in other industries, Pierre-Alain Blum was forced to sell Ebel to Investcorp in 1994, which in turn sold it to LVMH in 1999. In 2003, the Movado group bought Ebel from the French luxury powerhouse. Two decades later, the brand changes hands again. The news represents an opportunity for the

GRAND ARRIVAL: Two years after SKP entered the Wuhan market with a property that includes an outdoor luxury retail corridor, Chanel has finally unveiled its stand-alone store hoarding, a first for the central China city. According to posts shared by users on Xiaohongshu, the social commerce platform, Chanel ‘s future SKP door will live between Louis Vuitton and Cartier along the SKP K Avenue, a 1.5 kilometer-long pedestrian promenade that will have a total of around 40 stand-alone stores upon completion. The Wuhan store will be the second for Chanel in the central China region. The capital of Hubei province, the historical city of Wuhan is known as “the city of a thousand lakes” and counts a population of more than 13 million. SKP Wuhan will welcome the opening of Celine, Giorgio Armani and Prada, which will coincide with the launch of the WWD x SKP Global Fashion & Beauty Summit on Thursday. SKP Wuhan, the fourth location for the established department store franchise, is located in Wuchang District, a central cultural zone. “Wuhan, a city that has weathered the storms but is still full of positivity and optimism, is a city where its people stick together; it’s a place where people truly enjoy and celebrate life,” SKP said in a statement at the time. As China undergoes a prolonged market reset, luxury players are closing unproductive stores, exploring untapped regional markets

The forecast for fall? A little more drama up top—so says Dua Lipa, anyway. With temperatures dropping, celebrities are taking their headwear increasingly seriously—or, more accurately, a little less seriously. Beanies and novelty caps, be gone: it’s time for the return of the fabulous, fantastical hat. Dua Lipa is very much getting in on the action. Attending the 2026 WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Lipa made the case for statement millinery in a look from Matthieu Blazy’s fall 2026 Chanel couture collection. Styled by longtime collaborator Lorenzo Posocco, the singer wore a white and black, heavily textured tweed skirt suit with a straight-cut jacket, decorative jeweled buttons, and black feathery trim at the collar and cuffs. This was paired with the matching knee-length skirt, pointed black pumps, Bulgari diamond earrings, and a delicate layered pearl anklet. The crowning glory was her hat: an extravagant, inky-black asymmetric confection of wispy feathers and spiky embellishments, perched atop her head jauntily. Ladylike, yes. But prim and proper? Not quite. Lipa is, of course, no stranger to some good headwear. Throughout the summer, a baseball cap was practically glued to her head, whether she was enjoying that la vacanza lifestyle or scooting between studio sessions. But as her wardrobe shifts into fall mode, so too does her approach to