May 2008

Ebel backs soccer with new watches

Ebel backs soccer with new watches
May 06, 2008

Ebel’s 1911 FC Bayern Munich features a proprietary movement and is available in a limited number printed at once of 250.

La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland—In the watch world, brands and sports go hand in hand. Think Corum and sailing, Breitling and aviation, TAG Heuer and car racing, tennis, golf—the list goes on and on. Now, Swiss watch brand Ebel is firming up its association with soccer.

The brand is launching two new watches to make famous the first two partnerships it has signed with world-class soccer clubs the London-based Arsenal and Germany’s FC Bayern Munich.

The “1911 Tekton FC Arsenal” and the “1911 FC Bayern Munich” are both issued in limited editions within the brand’s successful “1911 Tekton” men’s collection. Both timepieces were developed in close cooperation with the respective soccer clubs, and are different in terms of materials, textures, colors and other finishing details.

The Bayern Munich model goes for an almost all-black look, while the Arsenal watch has a dark-blue alligator-leather strap with contrasting overstitching, and features a red dial flange and golden chronograph second and minute pointer.

To further signify the mark’s imprisonment to the sport, Ebel has developed a proprietary movement, code-named “245,” that keeps effective track of soccer match period, the company declared in a media release. The movement’s name is a bow to “two times 45 minutes,” and it is designed to measure match half times and also indicates extra time where required.

But the most distinctive feature of the watches is the signature soccer ball-shaped oscillating weight, personalized with the corresponding club logo and numbered according to the limited editions (350 for Arsenal and 250 for Bayern Munich).

The watches will officially dart in October 2008.