Ebel Voyager Automatic Worldtime Iconic Destinations Ref. 9124913, 1990s

Identity

Ebel Voyager Automatic Ref. 9124913, 1990s. Ebel calibre 124, self-winding, Lemania worldtime module. Steel case, 38 mm diameter, five exposed screws across the front, crown on the flank. Bidirectional rotating fluted bezel engraved with twenty-two legendary 1980s jet-set destinations and a GMT marker — St-Tropez, Mikonos, Nairobi, Maldives, Phuket, Bali, Sydney, Aspen, Beverly Hills, Palm Beach, Barbados. White dial, painted Roman numerals, luminous baton hands, steel centre seconds, peripheral 24-hour disc, date aperture at 3 o'clock. Sapphire crystal. Original blue shark leather strap, screwed to the lugs, signed steel folding clasp.

Horological context

Ebel was founded in 1911 in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Eugène Blum and Alice Lévy, whose trading name — Eugène Blum Et Lévy — gives the maison its acronym. Known at first for its shaped watches and its jewellery work, the house changed scale under Pierre-Alain Blum, grandson of the founders: in the late 1970s the Sport Classic and its wave link bracelet established a recognisable look, five exposed screws across the case front and a fluted bezel. Ebel assembled movements for other houses, Cartier among them, and partnered with Zenith in the early 1980s for the El Primero calibre. The Voyager appeared in the late 1980s and carried that vocabulary over to the travel watch. Its calibre 124, an ETA 2892 base with a Lemania worldtime module, drives a 24-hour disc read against the cities engraved on the rotating bezel. The line remained in production into the early 2000s.

Character

The bezel trades capitals for a geography of holiday resorts without giving up an inch of time-zone logic: each name sits exactly where the city it replaces would be. St-Tropez stands in for Paris, Aspen for Denver, Beverly Hills for Los Angeles, Palm Beach for New York, Barbados for Caracas. It remains an accurate worldtime instrument; only its user profile has changed.

Serviced. Very good condition. Delivered with the Contre-Temps box and the Contre-Temps 24-month warranty certificate.