Oh yes, very nice...a VAM Sphinx not exactly a Cravel with the boat on the side, but the Sphinx is a goodie for sure. Even rarer. and yours has the little special device for raising the kettle lid...an extreme engineering touch, so much machineing and work that went into that little lever mechanism which does that one thing, pop up the kettle lid, and nothing more....amazing to think of the work that went into that particular small detail. and by the looks of it the kettle release knob on the rear top....you got all of the bells and the whistles as well. and to top it off you snagged it for 45 euro while the rest of us were sleeping. It just may have been destiny at work here, as we look every day or even every hour and sure missed this one!!! Congrats and enjoy!

I think I've found the relation between Arrarex and VAM.
VAM made the heating element. http://www.applicazionivam.com/eng/home.htm

Just to chime in and hope not to create any confusion.....we have had/handled/or are in possession of about 15 Caravels....gray, orange, yellow(ivory) and red. All of the machines perform identically and all are a bit different from each other but there are certain trends. The differences lie in the location of the electrical control knobs, the type of lever and pf grips, the type of piston seal system, type of piston installation locking system and gerneral build quality (usually translates to the gauge of the stainless steel kettle lid).

Electrical control knobs: power switch either on bottom rear or on right side lower, thermostat knobette top rear or lower rear
Grips: black tapered plastic with metal ends or carved white/black plastic with no fittings
Piston seals: u cups fit in channels on piston body or o rings fit in channels inside the cylinder itself
Piston installation lock: top twists and throws two short rods into holes in cylinder top or single pin that goes through the entire cylinder and piston mechanism cap

In addition some machines have a kettle that snaps in at the rear and others have a large knob at the rear top which acts as a kettle lock and release mechanism.
So, the differences are minor as the function of all the machines is identical....pf size and cylinder size the same, kettles and levers are interchangeable to different bases, etc but in general:

Gray Caravels have USUALLY but not ALWAYS:
-power switch lower rear thermostat knob top rear
-u cups on piston body
-twist and lock piston installation
-tapererd black plastic grips
-snap in kettle (no release knob)

Orange Caravels have USUALLY but not ALWAYS
-power switch lower rear or on side, thermostat knobette top rear, bottom if machine has kettle lock knob top rear
-o rings inside cylinder, piston body smooth
-single pin through piston installation
-carved white or black plastic grips
-snap in kettle or snap in kettle with rear release knob

Light yellow or ivory Caravels can have combination of these elements. peacecup's caravel has u cup seals and ours has o rings.

Build quality varies but in general the gray models seem to have a thicker gauge stainless kettle lid than the orange ones. The gray paint is generally glossy while the orange is a semi matte wrinkle type paint. Ivory is semi gloss. Red body color models are, in our experience repaints.

Oh yes, one more feature, the rarest and most desireable of all is the kettle lid "raiseattore" . a very few models have a tiny machined lever system on the front of the kettle lid that acts to raise the kettle lid about 1/2 inch. It does nothing else but this, and the trouble they went through for that little device is amazing.

Our keeper machine is a sloppy red repaint with a push/pull power switch on the side, the 'raiseattore lever", the big kettle release knob on the back, thermostat set knob on bottom rear, cast aluminum lever handles which are strangely tapered, chunky white grips on the lever and black on the pf, light gauge kettle lid, and solid brass piston with no little hole in the bottom, and more feet than a centipede.
So there ya go.