diff --git a/lib/paper_trail/has_paper_trail.rb b/lib/paper_trail/has_paper_trail.rb
index 5b9b9fb4..73dfd639 100644
--- a/lib/paper_trail/has_paper_trail.rb
+++ b/lib/paper_trail/has_paper_trail.rb
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ module PaperTrail
       def version_at(timestamp)
         # Because a version stores how its object looked *before* the change,
         # we need to look for the first version created *after* the timestamp.
-        version = versions.first :conditions => ['created_at > ?', timestamp], :order => 'created_at ASC, id ASC'
+        version = versions.after(timestamp).first
         version ? version.reify : self
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/paper_trail/version.rb b/lib/paper_trail/version.rb
index af5fa684..dad9b389 100644
--- a/lib/paper_trail/version.rb
+++ b/lib/paper_trail/version.rb
@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@ class Version < ActiveRecord::Base
     :order      => "id DESC",
   } }
 
+  named_scope :after, lambda { |timestamp| {
+    :conditions => ['created_at > ?', timestamp],
+    # TODO: is this :order necessary, considering its presence on the has_many :versions association?
+    :order      => 'created_at ASC, id ASC'
+  } }
+
   # Restore the item from this version.
   #
   # This will automatically restore all :has_one associations as they were "at the time",