[1] The Eberhard family had been instrumental in the early development of the Swiss watchmaking industry.
The buildings take an entire block at the very center of rue Leopold Robert, La Chaux-de-Fonds's main avenue.
The five-story building was reminiscent of the 19th century Paris works of Georges-Eugène Haussmann, designed in the distinctive Beaux Arts style with a round tower topped by an impressive eagle sculpture that has become one of the city's most well known landmarks, and its highest construction until the 1960s.
[3] In 1919, Eberhard passed the company's executive leadership to his sons, Georges and Maurice.
By the time of his death, his children and grandchildren had married into several of the elite industrialist families of the Swiss watchmaking industry, the Blums, Vogels and Ditisheims, and thus were in an ownership position of many of the largest brands of the industry: Eberhard & Co., Ebel, Movado, Vulcain, Solvil et Titus or Paul Ditisheim.