[Tony C.]

Just acquired my first dive watch... Up until a few days ago, I had collected almost exclusively simple, high quality vintage automatic watches from the late '50's through the early '70's. My main focus has been the IWC Ingenieurs.

At the same time, I've always liked the look of certain vintage dive watches, and, despite the fact that my small wrist is hardly ideal for big watches, I couldn't resist this Favre-Leuba Deep Blue.

I have done some research, but if anyone has any particular insights into this model, I'd love to learn more.

Thanks!

Regards,

Tony C.

PS– The photo is from the seller, but I'll provide more when I have a chance.

 

[Ray MacDonald]

About all I can tell you is that Favre Leuba has been around since 1737 and is one of the oldest and most respected Swiss brands. It's still active and is owned by the LVMH group (Tag Heuer, Zenith, Gucci.)
Favre Leuba has made dive models since the 1960s I believe but yours has sort of a 1970s look. Perhaps if you posted in the dive watch forum you'd get more information. Thanks for posting.

 

[JohnF]

Hi -

Neat watch!

Ray has already filled you in on the company.

I'd definitly place it in the 1960s. Favre-Leuba is a fairly unknown company for many, but with some great innovation during its history. They made a calibre with two mainsprings, not so much for really long duration of a winding, but more for really smooth generation of power for the calibre itself, which has an excellent reputation for great time-keeping qualities.

They also made the "Bivouac" model, which had a built-in altimeter, using an aeroid capsule and a mechanism that transferred variations in atmospheric pressure to a rotating bezel. Pretty inventive, that.

Like I said, they're not well known, and finding one in the kind of shape you show is a pretty good find! Very clean and we'll all be looking forward to seeing pictures when you get to them.

Congratulations on the acquisition, enjoy your watch! And do please have it checked by a watchmaker so that you can enjoy it as long as possible.

JohnF