In May, Brigitte Courtet said, she was shocked to receive an email about reviving Eberjax, her family’s defunct watch business.

It had made chronographs, or stopwatches, from 1947 to 1983 in a large factory in Charquemont, a French region near the Swiss border. And while Ms. Courtet, 66, said she had not done anything with the brand since buying it from her father and uncle in 1983 as production ended, she now was eager to return to the watch world.

The email had come from Christophe Hoppé, 50, the French-born founder of Bausele watches in Sydney, Australia. (He translated for Ms. Courtet during a recent video interview.)

About 20 years ago he inherited a 38-millimeter gold-plated stainless steel Eberjax chronograph from his paternal grandfather and, through online searches, found out the name Eberjax was in the public domain. He registered it this year, but then decided to ensure that Ms. Courtet “was happy for me to take over,” he said.

While Mr. Hoppé is continuing to raise the 1.3 million euros ($1.35 million) he needs for startup funding, they have agreed that he will operate the company with Ms. Courtet acting as a consultant. After all, she was the quality controller for a watch company in the nearby Maîche, from 1972 to 1975; an accountant for Eberjax from 1976 to 1983; and had owned a watch and jewelry store, selling local brands such as Herbelin and Clyda, until 2019. She also became one of Charquemont’s deputy mayors in 2020.