Ebel Ladies Pendant Watch - 1950's

Material: stainless steel with acrylic case
Movement: manual winding
Year: Circa 1950
Size: 36mm including case
Skeleton back case
Original Lucite display mount

Made in Switzerland between 1945 and 1955, this small round fob watch has survived seventy-odd years in remarkable condition. The braided tan leather cord, the twin pine-cone tassel finials, and the large circular Lucite display mount are all present and intact.

The dial is cream with printed Arabic numerals, a subsidiary seconds register at 6 o'clock, and the period inscription EBEL / FAB. SUISSE. The case is polished chrome steel, approximately 36mm including the crown. The open caseback reveals the movement in all its mechanical detail; gears, jewels, and bridges exposed.

The Lucite mount is a large transparent disc and almost certainly original to the piece. Whether this was a display format or a deliberate design choice for wear, it gives the watch a miniature snow-globe quality: the movement appears to float inside a circle of glass.

Sold with a 6 month warranty on the movement and shipping is free within Switzerland.

The brand

Ebel was founded in 1911 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, by husband and wife Eugène Blum and Alice Lévy. The brand name itself is an acronym of their initials: Eugène Blum Et Lévy. From the outset it was an unusual partnership with Eugène leading the technical side and Alice the design and aesthetics. It was a combination that gave the brand an edge that purely masculine watchmaking houses rarely achieved. The company later became a movement supplier to Cartier, and went on to count André Agassi, Claudia Schiffer, and Boris Becker among its ambassadors before eventually joining the Movado Group.