Advantages:

+ Impressive sporty design

+ Exclusive chronograph caliber
+ High legibility
+ Good rate results

Disadvantages
– No stop-seconds function

136 WatchTime April 2007

THE ROOT OF ALL With the 1911 BTR line, Ebel revives

EBEL its famous design from 1986. But

the new Automatic Chronograph is
by no means retro in its appearance
and performance. We put this sporty
timepiece through its paces.

BY JENS KOCH
PHOTOS BY IMAGINA

ounded in 1911, and family-owned for holding company. Ebel came under the aegis

F many years, Ebel made its name as a

manufacturer of elegant wristwatches.
When Pierre-Alain Blum, the grandson of the
firm’s founder, launched the Sport Classic line
in 1977, a new era began. The watches in the
line featured unconventional, hexagonal,
rounded, satin-finished cases and polished
bezels held in place by five screws. In ensuing
years, the Sport Classic acquired the status of a
design icon. It became so important for Ebel
that it was later renamed “1911” in tribute to
the year of the brand’s founding. Ebel intro-
duced the first chronographs with this now-fa-
miliar case in 1982, initially powered by
Zenith’s El Primero caliber. In 1994, one year
prior to the introduction of the exclusive Cali-
ber 137 in the Modulor 1911 watch, Blum was
forced to sell the business to the Investcorp
of the luxury group LVMH (Moët-Hennessy-
Louis Vuitton) in 1999 and was prohibited
from competing directly with the concern’s
other brands, namely, TAG Heuer and Zenith.
This meant that Ebel could neither make sporty
watches nor emphasize exclusive movements.
After the Movado Group took control of the
brand in 2004, CEO Efraim Grinberg an-
nounced that he planned to allow Ebel to focus
again on its core values. With the 1911 BTR
line (the acronym stands for both “back to the
roots” and “beyond the roots”), Ebel has in-
deed returned to its basics – and ventured rad-
ically beyond them.
Ebel’s roots are evident in the eye-catching
case of the 1911 and in the exclusive Caliber
137. The 1911 BTR Automatic Chronograph
catapults the famous design of the 1911 into

April 2007 WatchTime 137

TEST: EBEL 1911 BTR CHRONOGRAPH

hands also deserve lavish praise. The rubber

components look as though they could easily
survive decades of use.

Architectural Aesthetics
The watch’s exterior is impressive, but what
about the interior? Caliber 137 debuted in
1995 after five years of development work.
Designed by Ebel, it and its chronograph mod-
ule were patterned after the Lemania 1341.
(Ebel and Lemania were both then owned by
Investcorp, as was Breguet.) Ebel replaced the
unidirectional winding mechanism with a bi-
directional version equipped with an eccentric
reverser, thus reducing the device’s height from
7.9 mm to 6.4 mm. (Lemania made versions of

DATA
EBEL 1911 BTR AUTOMATIC
CHRONOGRAPH
Manufacturer: Ebel, La Chaux-de-Fonds,
Switzerland
Reference number: 9137L73/5335145RS
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, chrono-
graph with seconds, 30-minute and 12-hour
counters, date display
Movement: Self-winding Ebel Caliber 137,
28,800 vph, diameter = 31 mm, height = 6.4
mm, COSC-certified chronometer, Incabloc
Ebel’s exclusive Caliber 137, with cam-controlled chronograph and eccentric reverser for the self- shock absorption, Triovis fine adjustment, 48-
winding mechanism hour power reserve, no stop-seconds function
Case: Stainless steel case, sapphire crystal is non-
reflective on both its surfaces, screwed crown,
a new era. Ebel’s new look artfully combines a sportscar with hand-sewn leather seats. The push-pieces and bezel with rubber coating, eight
contemporary dimensions, a rubber bezel, rub- high-quality aura is hard to resist. screws hold caseback in place, water-resistant to
100 meters
ber tops and knurled sides for the push-pieces The attractively grained crocodile-skin strap Strap and clasp: Hand-sewn crocodile-skin strap
and crown, and a black strap that directly contributes its fair share to that aura, repre- with stainless steel folding clasp
abuts the case. The strap also boasts red stitch- senting very high-quality leatherwork. Hand- Rate results:
ing that matches the chronograph’s hands. sewn with saddle stitching, it’s manufactured (Deviations in seconds per 24 hours)
without and with chronograph switched on
The black dial has sportily broad indices and in the fully remborded manner, wherein the Dial up: +3 +4
wide, elegantly faceted hands; easy-to-read outer leather is wrapped around the filler Dial down: +4 +5
subdials; and, last but not least, an extra-large leather and then sewn together with the in- Crown up: +2 +2
Crown down: +1 +2
small-seconds subdial with waffle-like guillo- ner leather, thus durably uniting the layers.
Crown left: +1 +4
ché decoration. Everything fits together per- Such a level of craftsmanship is rarely seen Crown right: +1 +1
fectly, and the sum total is harmoniously con- these days, even on the straps of very expen- Greatest deviation of rate: 3 4
sistent. The design is as dynamically elegant as sive wristwatches. The clasp, case, dial and Mean deviation: +2 +3
Mean amplitude:
Flat positions 318° 343°
This very precise watch has earned an official chronometer Hanging positions 273° 298°
Dimensions: Diameter = 4.5 mm, height = 13
certificate from COSC. The only drawback: the balance’s mm; weight = 114 grams
Price: $6,250
amplitude is uncommonly high.

138 WatchTime April 2007

TEST: EBEL 1911 BTR CHRONOGRAPH

The steel-and-rubber crown bears the brand’s stylized “E” logo.

this caliber with central elapsed-minute
counter and flyback function for the Breguet
Type XX and Type XXI pilots’ watches.)
The unusual thinness of this chronograph
movement is due to the integrated structure
and to the flatness of the eccentric reverser in
the self-winding system. Modular chrono-
graphs are significantly taller. Ebel doesn’t use
a column wheel to guide the chronograph’s
functions, but opts instead for a somewhat less
elegant cam-guided system. Unlike the Valjoux
7750, the Ebel 137 does without the simple
rocking pinion in the clutch and relies instead
on traditional wheel coupling with a coupling
lever and an intermediate wheel affixed to the
lever. The latter links the fourth wheel and the
chronograph’s center wheel when the chrono-
graph is switched on.
The beautiful rotor is a predominant feature
of the movement. It combines the stylized Ebel
“E” and an architect’s compass, which symbol-
izes Ebel’s “Architects of Time” motto. The
bridge for the self-winding mechanism and the
balance cock are both ornamented with circu-
lar engraving. The plate is pearled. The screws
are polished. Only the levers of the chrono-
graph remain unadorned.
The Triovis adjustment mechanism makes
fine adjustments easy. On their end, Ebel’s
watchmakers have obviously mastered this art
as well. The 1911 BTR Chronograph gained
between one and two seconds per day on the
wrist. Our timing machine confirmed this ad-
mirably accurate performance: it determined
that the average deviation was just +2 seconds
with the chronograph function switched off
and +3 seconds with it running. The greatest
deviation among the several positions was just
three or four seconds per day, depending on
the status of the chronograph mechanism.
The 1911 BTR Chronograph has rightfully
earned an official chronometer certificate from

We were impressed by the craftsmanship evident in the

details of this watch, and the movement’s good rate results
Ebel Caliber 137 boasts a total of 322
components. despite its lack of a column wheel.

140 WatchTime April 2007

TEST: EBEL 1911 BTR CHRONOGRAPH
COSC. Only the amplitude, which sometimes
exceeds 340°, is too high — so high that the
balance is in danger of “knocking“ — swing-
ing so far in one direction that it strikes against
the other side. Perhaps the barrel of our test
watch hadn’t been properly lubricated; this
would cause the slip-spring, which acts like a
friction clutch, to convey too much torque to
the gear train. The high amplitude, however,
didn’t create any problems with the rate during
a several-days-long test on the wrist.
Fitted and Functional
During the testing period, the watch always fit
comfortably on the wrist. Despite its large size,
it never got in the way. The clasp lets you adjust
the length of the strap to precisely the right
length — a very convenient feature. The ad-
justment mechanism is a bit stiff, but once
you’ve set the length to suit you, you shouldn’t
need to use it again. The strap is secured in an
interesting fashion, too: rather than being held
in place by a loop, its extending end is slipped
under the opposite one at the end of the clasp.
The very sturdy clasp holds the strap securely
The dial’s elaborate design features guilloché decoration and faceted hands and indices.
142 WatchTime April 2007
closed without the need for safety push-pieces,
and it can be opened without much effort.
The push-pieces on the case are a different
story. The return-to-zero button, especially, re-
quires considerable pressure. This stiffness is
no doubt another consequence of the cam-
controlled chronograph mechanism. Fortu-
nately, the non-slip rubber tops and the large
size of the push-pieces makes them comfort-
able to operate despite the strong pressure
needed to make them move. Despite their ap-
pearance, the push-pieces aren’t screwed. In
this case, it is an advantage, because if they
had been screwed, the chronograph would
have been more difficult to operate. The wa-
ter-resistance (to 100 meters) is already more
than adequate even without this added fea-
ture. The crown, on the other hand, is screwed,
but its large size and knurling combine to ensure
that it is easy to use. A rapid adjustment mecha-
nism for the date display lets the days fly by. The
seconds hand, however, cannot be stopped be-
cause the watch does not include a stop-sec-
onds function.
This useful function is sorely missed, espe-
cially because the fairly large “small” seconds
Ebel’s folding clasp lets you adjust the crocodile-
skin strap to the perfect length to fit your wrist.
are as easily readable as all the other displays.
The red color of the chronograph’s hands is ad-
vantageous both visually and functionally. The
hands for the stopwatch’s functions are shaped
differently than the hands of the ordinary time
displays. Broad hands and hour indices, a strong
contrast between black and white, and perfect
nonreflective treatment on both surfaces of the
flat sapphire crystal — all make this watch a
paragon of legibility. The crystal itself is so trans-
parent as to be nearly invisible. The minute hand
moves continually, unlike its counterpart on the
Valjoux 7750, which leaps ahead to the next
minute after each full circle of the seconds hand.
Average speeds can be read directly from the
tachymeter scale along the steeply rising flange.
Ebel lives up to its fine reputation here. The
classic shape of the 1911 BTR Chronograph
marks a successful return to the brand’s origins
and simultaneously translates this tradition
into a new, contemporary and sporty lan-
guage. We were impressed by the craftsman-
ship evident in the details, like the eminently
well-crafted strap, and the movement’s good
rate results despite the fact that it makes do
without a column wheel.
Selling at retail for $6,250, this timepiece is
not a bargain, but considering its high quality,
the price is fully justified.
TEST RESULTS
EBEL 1911 BTR AUTOMATIC CHRONOGRAPH
Strap and clasp: (max. 10 points)
The strap is elaborately hand-sewn and fully
remborded. The sturdy clasp lets you adjust the
strap to any length you wish. 9
Operation (5): Unfortunately, there’s no stop-
seconds function. Its absence complicates the
task of setting the watch with to-the-second ac-
curacy. The date display, however, can be quickly
reset. The crown and push-pieces are easy to
handle, but a more than moderate amount of
pressure is needed to operate the push-pieces. 3
Case (10): The well-crafted case acquires added
refinement thanks to polished screws, a rubber
bezel and rubber tops on the push-pieces and
crown. 8
Design (15): Stylish, sporty design; the case has
the typically rounded shape; elaborate dial with
attractive guilloché 14
Legibility (5): Size does the trick! The dial,
hands and indices are generously large. The
chronograph’s hands are red for instant identifi-
cation. The hands glow brightly and the indices
glow adequately at night. 5
Wearing comfort (10): Despite its large size, the
watch is comfortable on the wrist. The case’s round-
ed edges contribute to the good comfort level. 9
Movement (20): The rare and well-crafted cali-
ber has a very pretty rotor, but is controlled by
cams rather than a column wheel. 15
Rate results (10): The greatest deviation among
the several positions was pleasingly small. But the
amplitude was dangerously high and could lead
to knocking. 9
Overall value (15): All things considered, the
cost-benefit ratio is good. 12
TOTAL: 84 points
■
April 2007 WatchTime 143