Movado sells 95% of EBEL for $66.5 million, keeps 5%
The buyer group is led by F.P. Journe's parent, with Chanel and Pierre Jacques, who becomes chief executive. Movado's owned-brand sales grew 3.7% in the half year; its licensed brands grew 7.8%.
By The Watches Desk
What changed
Movado sold its Swiss brand. Movado Group agreed to sell 95% of EBEL to a group led by Montres Journe SA, with Chanel and Pierre Jacques, for about $66.5 million. Movado retains 5%.
What it means
- If you hold MOV: The sale takes the slower line out of the portfolio. Owned brands grew 3.7% last half year while licensed brands grew 7.8%.
- If you wholesale EBEL: Your counterparty becomes a new Swiss company with F.P. Journe and Chanel behind it. Pierre Jacques runs it from closing.
- If you collect EBEL: Trademarks, inventory and the Le Corbusier Villa Turque move into that subsidiary first. The buyer group then takes 95% of it.
- What this is not: A valuation of EBEL. Movado has never broken out the brand's sales, so the consideration cannot be set against a brand revenue line, and nothing has closed.
Key figures
| Consideration for 95% of EBELsubject to closing adjustments | $66.5m |
|---|---|
| Equity sold to the buyer groupMovado retains 5% | 95% |
| Owned brands, half-year sales+3.7%; EBEL sits in this line | $78.009m |
| Licensed brands, half-year sales+7.8%, the faster line | $186.190m |
Source: Terms as filed in Movado Group's Form 8-K of 8 October 2026, reporting an agreement effective 5 October 2026. Segment figures are for the six months to 31 July 2026.
Ninety-five percent, not all
Sixty-six point five. Consideration is expected to total approximately $66.5 million, subject to customary closing adjustments. Movado keeps a 5% interest and will supply services under a transition agreement.
A new subsidiary. Trademarks, intellectual property, inventory and the Villa Turque transfer first to a newly formed Swiss subsidiary. The buyer group takes 95% of that entity at closing.
| Line | H1 to 31 Jul 2026 | Year earlier | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owned brands (contains EBEL) | $78.009m | $75.252m | +3.7% |
| Licensed brands | $186.190m | $172.662m | +7.8% |
| Watch and Accessory Brands | $266.558m | $250.479m | +6.4% |
| Company Stores | $45.596m | $43.119m | +5.7% |
| Consolidated net sales | $312.154m | $293.598m | +6.3% |
Notes on this table
Every percentage in the change column is Movado's own figure from the same filing, not Carat Capital's division. EBEL's own sales are not disclosed separately, so the $66.5 million consideration cannot be set against a brand revenue figure. As a scale check only, $66,500,000 divided by $78,009,000 is 85.2% of the whole owned-brands half-year line; that is a size comparison, not a multiple.
Who is buying it
Journe leads it. Montres Journe SA, the Geneva maker trading as F.P. Journe, leads the group. Chanel participates, and Pierre Jacques becomes EBEL's chief executive.
Jacques returns. Jacques left De Bethune's chief executive seat in July 2026, replaced by Antoine Pin. EBEL was founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1911.
The slower of two lines
Owned brands lagged. Movado's owned brands category, which contains EBEL, grew 3.7% to $78.009 million in the six months to 31 July 2026.
Licensed brands grew faster. The licensed category grew 7.8% to $186.190 million over the same half. It carries Coach, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Lacoste and Calvin Klein under licence.
Closing is not done
Fourth quarter, fiscal 2026. The filing expects closing in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which ends 31 January 2027, subject to a pre-closing reorganisation.
Price may move. Movado names purchase-price adjustments among its own risk factors, so final consideration may differ from the announced amount. Nothing has changed hands yet.
What to watch
- By 31 January 2027Whether the sale closes inside the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 that the filing names, or slips past the year end.
- Late November 2026Movado's third-quarter results, the first set that should carry EBEL's accounting treatment as a pending disposal.
- After closingWhether EBEL's new owners publish a brand revenue figure Movado never broke out.
The story so far
Go deeper
What would change this call
A failed condition or a collapsed pre-closing reorganisation, which would leave EBEL inside Movado and the $66.5 million unpaid. The agreement is binding but not closed, and Movado itself lists non-completion and purchase-price adjustment among its risk factors.
Why a carve-out price is not a brand value
EBEL does not exist today as a separate legal entity with its own accounts. The transaction first moves trademarks, intellectual property, inventory, certain other dedicated assets and certain dedicated employees into a newly formed Swiss subsidiary of Movado Group, then sells 95% of that subsidiary's equity. What the buyer group pays for is therefore a defined asset perimeter plus a transition services agreement, not a going concern with an audited revenue line. Three things follow. The perimeter determines the price, so two carve-outs of the same brand with different asset lists are not comparable. The retained 5% keeps the seller economically interested through the transition, which is a common structure where the buyer needs the seller's systems for a period. And because consideration is subject to customary closing adjustments, the announced figure is an expectation rather than a settled sum.
Method
Primary read at the source, not through trade press. Form 8-K fetched to raw bytes from sec.gov with an identifying user agent, HTTP 200, 29,034 bytes, saved to newsroom/sources/2026-10-09/mov8k.htm; Exhibit 99.1 press release fetched the same way, 200, 16,211 bytes, saved as mov_pr.htm; Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 31 July 2026 fetched, 200, 3,466,001 bytes, saved as mov10q.htm. Raw-byte grep counts stated: '66.5' 1 hit in the press release and 1 in the 8-K, '95%' 3 and 1, 'Montres Journe' 5, 'Pierre Jacques' 3, '1911' 2, 'La Chaux-de-Fonds' 1, 'fourth quarter of fiscal 2026' 1. In the 10-Q, '78,009' 2 hits, '186,190' 2, '266,558' 4, '312,154' 7, '42,399' 2, '100,693' 2. The filing index was read first to confirm the accession number: data.sec.gov submissions for CIK 0000072573, 200, 171,116 bytes, newest filing 2026-10-08, Form 8-K, items 8.01 and 9.01, accession 0000950142-26-002717, report date 2026-10-05. A first attempt at CIK 0000832988 returned Signet Jewelers, not Movado, so the CIK was looked up through EDGAR company search rather than assumed. The 85.2% scale check is Carat Capital's own division and is printed with its terms: 66,500,000 divided by 78,009,000. Every percentage in the table is Movado's own stated figure from the 10-Q, not re-derived here. Archive check, searched by entity in website/content/articles.json, the archive of record: 'EBEL' 0 hits; 'Montres Journe' 0 hits; 'Movado' 14 string hits in 2 articles, both opened and read, the-same-figure-the-other-way of 27 August 2026 and twenty-one-nine-million-at-movado of 4 September 2026, both covering first-half fiscal 2027 earnings. PERIOD NAMED ON BOTH SIDES: ours cover Movado's first half of fiscal 2027 (results) | this item covers a single corporate event of 5 October 2026 (a divestiture agreement) - DIFFERENT SUBJECT AND PERIOD, so NEW, not a repeat. 'Pierre Jacques' 1 hit, opened and read: bennahmias-wanted-de-bethune of 22 July 2026, where Jacques is named as the outgoing De Bethune chief executive replaced by Antoine Pin. Same person, different company and different event, so new. One quote is used, in the plain-prose record only: seven words attributed to Francois-Paul Journe from the Exhibit 99.1 press release, counted before filing.