Luxury watchmaker Hublot buys Korean ceramic supplier Ecco

Hublot, a Swiss watchmaker under global luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has taken over South Korean ceramic manufacturer Ecco Watch Co.  

The Swiss company has signed an agreement to buy a 70% stake for 30 billion won ($23.1 million) from Ecco CEO Ko Young-gon and shareholders with whom he has a special relation, according to investment banking sources on March 27. Hublot has also acquired an option to purchase the other 30% stake in the future.

Ecco’s CEO Ko will remain in management for a certain period of time after the buyout, sources added.

Ecco started providing key components like ceramic, a harder material than steel and gold for watches, to Hublot and Swatch in 2008. Ecco also signed a 10-year contract at $50 million to jointly develop ceramics with Hublot in 2014, when former President Park Geun-hye visited Switzerland.

Ecco’s ceramics have attracted the attention of global luxury watchmakers thanks to their hardness and color. Ceramic manufacturing requires precise manual dexterity to heat a material called zirconia in a furnace at a temperature of at least 1,450 degrees Celsius.

Headquartered in Seoul, Ecco operates three factories in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province in Korea. The company had run a plant in Shenzhen, China and relocated its production facilities home in 2013 as it determined that made-in-Korea watches would build better trust with global watch producers.

Write to Jun-Ho Cha at chacha@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.