Ebel

Ebel is a Swiss luxury watch company, founded in 1911 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchâtel, Switzerland by Eugene Blum and Alice Levy.

The brand

E.B.E.L.

Ebel was founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the historic birthplace of the watch-making industry by Swiss industrialist and watchmaker Eugene Blum and his wife Alice Levy. The brand was named after the initials of: Eugene Blum et Levy. In 1971, their grandson Pierre-Alain Blum assumed leadership of the company and renewed its collections and kept the company growing. The company's slogan is: Ebel, the Architects of Time.

In 1999, the Ebel luxury watch company was sold to the French luxury brands group LVMH; then in 2004, the company was resold to the American group Movado.

The "Architects of Time"

Ebel has long sponsored the work of famous architects such as Le Corbusier (who was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds), Andree Putman, or—in the early 1990s—contemporary Swiss painters, such as Jean Arcelin. In 1986, the Villa Turque, an early masterpiece of Le Corbusier has been acquired by the group for its 75th anniversary to served both as a reminder of its core values and as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the brand.

Austrian Hockey League

The Austrian Hockey League (German: Österreichische Eishockey-Liga), called the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (English: Erste Bank Hockey League) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level ice hockey league in Austria.

History

The roots of the EBEL league go back to 1923 and various Championships, whose winner is officially recognized as the Austrian Champion. There was no Austrian competition between 1939 and 1945. During World War II, a number of Austrian teams competed in the German Ice Hockey Championship, which is why the EK Engelmann Wien and Vienna EV list German Championships in their history.

The league exists in today's form since the 1965–66 season.

Until 2005–06 the league consisted solely of Austrian teams. Since then the league has added teams from Slovenia (starting 2006–07 and 2007–08), Hungary (starting 2007–08), Croatia (starting 2009–10 season), the Czech Republic (starting in 2011–12) and Italy (starting 2013–14 season).

The non-Austrian teams are competing for the "EBEL Champion" title. Only Austrian teams in this league are additionally eligible for the "Austrian Champion" title. The league has had different sponsors, and the current naming rights have been held by "Sparkasse Bank" and its Erste Bank brand since the 2003–04 season.