Favre-Leuba Watches: Reviewing the Historic Watchmaker's Current Collection

You may well have heard the brand name Favre-Leuba for the first time just a few years ago, but the company is actually the second-oldest watch brand in existence. It traces its origin to Abraham Favre’s registration as a watchmaker, and the founding of his watchmaking workshop, in the Swiss village of Le Locle in 1737 — just two years after Blancpain, the world’s oldest watch brand, came into being in 1735. Favre’s son Abraham, Jr., partnered with another watchmaker named Auguste Leuba in 1815 to establish the brand as it exists today. The company — which shortly thereafter expanded its reach internationally, with a particularly strong presence in India — remained in the hands of the Favre family for eight generations before it was finally sold in the 1980s, during the difficult economic conditions brought about by the Quartz Crisis.

In its first two centuries in business, Favre-Leuba made great strides from both a business and technical standpoint — creating a single-button chronograph timepiece as early as 1925 and developing its own in-house movement, the manually wound FL101, in 1955. It followed up with its first self-winding movements, the FL103 and FL104, in 1957. But its most memorable and impactful contributions to watchmaking history came in more recent times, starting in the mid-20th Century. The company introduced notable and historically significant divers’ watches like the 200-meter water-resistant Deep Blue in 1964, and the Bathy (above) in 1968; the latter was the first mechanical watch that not only indicated the dive time and duration but also could accurately measure the depth. Another of the brand’s most innovative creations during this era was 1962’s Bivouac (below), the first wristwatch to include both an altimeter and an aneroid barometer, both mechanical.

The Quartz Crisis of the 1970s and ‘80s prompted the Favre family to relinquish control of the business, after which its ownership went through several sets of corporate hands, including, briefly, those of LVMH. After years of dormancy, the firm re-emerged in 2011 under new ownership by the India-based Tata Group (which makes cars as well as many other products) and its watchmaking subsidiary, the Titan Company. That group’s ownership was short-lived, however, as the venerable watchmaking brand was acquired by Switzerland’s Silvercity Brands in 2024, which instituted a major relaunch of Favre-Leuba that same year, focusing on contemporary re-editions of several of its historically significant tool watches and sport watches. Here is a rundown of today’s Favre-Leuba collection and what each one draws from the brand’s storied history. 

At the core of Favre-Leuba’s current collection is the Chief series, which takes its primary cues from a 1970 chronograph with a hand-wound Valjoux 23 movement, a softly squared case whose edges softened at the corners. The first generation in 2024 kicked off with three Chief Dates and three Chief Chronograph references; the brand has added colorways to both of these sub-families since. The Chief Date comes in a 40mm stainless steel case that measures a relatively modest 10.8mm high and whose chiseled edges boast an array of satin finishing and polishing. The dials set these watches apart, with a sunray finish and a stamped tapestry texture that at close glance resembles a repeating pattern of tiny hourglasses. The integrated bracelet with H-shaped links carries on the meticulous finishing and sculptural forms of the case, and includes an easy, tool-free change system. The highly decorated La Joux-Perret Caliber G100 beats inside the case, providing a 68-hour power reserve. The Chief Date family’s initial trio of blue, black, and green dials has since expanded to include more pastel-toned options, such as mint green and ice blue, and offers color-matched interchangeable rubber straps as well as bracelets. Prices range from $2,950 to $3,050.

The Chief Chronograph is slightly larger, at 41mm in diameter and 14mm thick, and as a wrist chronograph with a two-register dial, it hews even more closely to its Valjoux-powered predecessor from the ‘70s. The cushion shaped steel case has been engineered for increased ergonomics, with grooves on the flanks that follow the shape of the chronograph pushers and a more streamlined profile for the vintage-inspired lugs. The sunburst dial has a tachymeter scale on its outer flange, two slightly raised subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock for counting elapsed minutes and seconds. The hourglass emblem, a historic symbol of Favre-Leuba, appears at 6 o’clock, and the hands and baton indexes are rhodium-plated with brushed and sandblasted finishing. Inside the Chief Chronographs, Favre-Leuba has installed the automatic La Joux-Perret L113 caliber, an integrated-chronograph movement with a blued column wheel, a 60-hour power reserve and a host of high-horology treatments, including cotes de Geneve, heat-blued screws, polishing and circular graining, all of which can be viewed through a sapphire exhibition caseback. On a rubber strap, the Chief Chronograph retails for $5,700; on a steel bracelet, it's $5,800.

Favre-Leuba has also dabbled in higher levels of horological complexity within the Chief collection, collaborating with Chronode’s Jean-Francois Mojon to create the limited-edition Chief Tourbillon. The most complex timepiece in the revived Favre-Leuba collection, its dial features a meticulously embossed, multi-level, repeating triangular pattern that evokes the brand’s hourglass emblem and catches light in spectacular fashion. The tourbillon, in a large aperture at 6 o’clock, also pays visual homage to the historic symbol with an hourglass-shaped upper bridge for its rotating cage, and its motion also tracks the running seconds with a mounted blued seconds hand. The steel case measures 41mm and contains the exclusive Caliber FL T01, based on the Chronode C502, which is manually wound and possesses a 60-hour power reserve. The Chief Tourbillon is priced at CHF 24,800, which makes it about $33,000 in the U.S.

The other recent addition to the Chief family is the Chief Skeleton, a 2026 GPHG “Challenge” award nominee. It is the first skeletonized timepiece in Favre-Leuba’s nearly 300-year history, with a cushion-shaped 40mm steel case and a curved sapphire crystal serving as the window to the specially openworked Caliber FLS01, developed by the brand in cooperation with Manufacture AMT, the high-end movement atelier within Switzerland’s Sellita Group. The movement’s multi-level design includes the mainspring barrel semi-exposed at 12 o’clock and a balance wheel visible from the front at 6 o’clock. The movement’s surfaces and facets feature snailing, sandblasting, satin finishing, and Favre-Leuba’s signature horizontal brushing on the balance wheel bridge. The Skeleton carries an MSRP of $4,500 in steel.

Deep Raider watches draw many of their design codes from the historic Deep Blue dive watch of 1964 and, in some neo-vintage versions, the depth-gauge-equipped Bathy 160 models of the late 1960s and ‘70s. Two years after its introduction, the Deep Raider family has become one of Favre-Leuba’s most extensive and versatile. The Deep Raider Revival ($2,900 - $3,200) is the most faithful to the brand’s vintage dive watches, with a 39mm diameter and 12.75mm thickness for its stainless steel case, a mostly period-accurate dial with a sunray finish, extended baton indexes, arrow-tipped minute hand, and round date window at 4:30. The caseback is solid and engraved with Favre-Leuba’s hourglass motif, identically to its ancestor, and the cream-colored Super-LumiNova on the hands and indexes calls to mind aged radium paint on the originals. Upgrades include the Revival’s 300-meter water resistance (compared to the earlier models’ 200 meters) and a ceramic insert (rather than bakelite) for its rotating dive-scale bezel. The five-link bracelet with triangular links is another vintage touch, while the automatic movement inside, the La Joux-Perret G100 with a 68-hour power reserve, is decidedly modern and reliable.

Alongside the Deep Raider Revival (which added an orange colorway in 2026 to complement the original gray), Favre-Leuba launched the vintage-inspired but bolder-styled Deep Raider Renaissance models. These watches are slightly larger, at 40mm, and are notable for their smoked-effect dials, in which the bright colors in the center grow darker at the edges. The hands and indexes are coated with a more modern white Super-LumiNova, which glows bright blue in the dark. The 300-meter water resistance, ceramic bezel insert, automatic G100 movement, and 4:30 date window remain in the design, while the five-link bracelet gives way here to a three-link version, which is easily interchangeable, tool-free, with a colorful rubber strap. Steel models of the Renaissance range from $2,850 to $2,950, while special editions, like the recently released meteorite-dial models, are slightly higher, from $3,200 to $3,900.

Small complications began filtering into the Deep Raider family in 2026. One was the Deep RaiderPower Reserve ($3,200), a 40mm watch with an unusual dial layout: two subdials at 9 o’clock and 6 o’clock, for small seconds and a power-reserve display, respectively, along with an arc-shaped three-figure date indication in a window at 3 o’clock. The subdials have a textural, snailed finish and the vertical date window is bordered by a raised metallic frame. The case is 12.59mm thick, water-resistant to 300 meters thanks to a knurled, screw-down crown, and contains the automatic FLP01 caliber, with a 41-hour power reserve (visible, as noted above, in analog form on the dial).  

A bit more conventional in its design is the Deep Raider Day Date, which measures 40mm in diameter and 12.5mm thick, resists water pressure to 300 meters, and combines a three-handed timekeeping display with a ceramic divers’ bezel and a day/date indicator in a horizontal double window at 3 o’clock. Four dial colors are available, all of which feature a distinctive gradient — from bright color at the top to darkening at the bottom — which the brand says is inspired by the changing light from dawn to dusk. Inside these “everyday wear” models is the Sellita-based FLD05 movement, packing a more conventional 38 hours of power when fully wound. The Day-Date models are priced for entry-level appeal, at $2,300 in full steel or $2,700 for steel and gold-toned PVD. 

The original Sea Sky, appropriately named for its “hybrid” design that incorporated both pilot-watch and dive-watch elements, debuted in the mid-1960s. Its modern descendant, the Sea Sky Revival, was among the first wave of models from Favre-Leuba’s relaunch in 2024 and retains much of its predecessors’ defining features. Its stainless steel case measures 41mm in diameter (the same proportions as the ‘60s watches) and 15.23mm thick, and has a combination of brushed and polished surfaces. Its bidirectional rotating bezel has a 60-minute countdown scale on its ceramic insert, and the tricompax dial is encircled on its periphery by concentric scales: a tachymeter to measure speeds and a telemeter to decipher distances from an audible event. The dial has a sunburst finish, while the subdials at 3,6, and 9 o’clock feature a subtle ribbed texture. The vintage-evocative arrow-style hands and applied indexes are treated with Super-LumiNova. 

The caseback of the Sea Sky Revival ($4,950 on leather to $5,400 on bracelet) is fitted with a sapphire exhibition window offering a view of the self-winding movement, Caliber FLC01, developed by the brand in collaboration with complication specialist La Joux-Perret and packing a 60-hour power reserve. It’s got a blued column wheel for an extra-smooth operation of the chronograph functions; a skeletonized 4N rose-gold rotor customized with colimaçon and soleillage finishes; perlage on the lower bridges, and côtes de Genève on the mainplate. 

Favre-Leuba introduced its first Harpoon watch, a model that started out as an understated dress watch and subsequently evolved into more sporty iterations, in 1966. For the model’s 60th Anniversary in ‘26, the modern brand released the Harpoon Revival ($2,300), which stays true to the elegant dimensions and style elements of the original and lays the foundation for the Harpoon series as another pillar of the contemporary lineup. The Harpoon Revival case, in polished stainless steel, measures just 36.8mm in diameter and 10mm thick, echoing its ancestor’s compact proportions. The watch’s sunray-brushed gray dial also calls to mind the original, with rhodium-plated horizontal indexes at 12, 6, and 9 o’clock, a “Harpoon” logotype at 6 o’clock rendered in the same stylized font used in 1966, and a metallic framed date window at 3 o’clock. The case’s lug-to-lug width is 43.5mm and its water resistance is a modest but appropriate 50 meters. The watch’s solid caseback, emblazoned with the brand’s vintage-era hourglass-emblem medallion, covers the automatic movement, the reliable, La Joux Perret-based FLD04, which offers a best-in-class power reserve of 68 hours. The leather strap fastens with a steel pin buckle and is equipped with an easy-change system for tool-free swapping out of straps and bracelets, provided they fit the case’s 20mm lug width.  

The fifth pillar of today’s Favre-Leuba portfolio, also established in 2026, is the 1737, named after the company’s founding year and paying homage to its pioneering triple-calendar watches of the 1940s and ‘50s, which were renowned for their midcentury elegance and complex combinations of functions (which included moon-phases and often chronographs). The Favre-Leuba Datora, launched in 1946, and the Bovet & Frères triple calendar, equipped with the legendary Caliber 1162 (from 1950, in an era when Favre-Leuba owned a stake in the now-independent Bovet brand) provide the most direct inspiration for this elegant line, whose initial models arrive in 39mm, round stainless steel cases. The sunray-finished dial has a circular brushed outer track for the 31-day scale, which is paired with a central pointer to indicate the date, and another delicately snailed scale for the minute track. The hours are marked by applied, mirror-polished Roman numerals and bar indexes in 4N gold. The day and month appear in twin windows at 12 o’clock while the phases of the moon balance them out in a dedicated subdial at 6 o’clock. The 1737 Triple Calendar has an MSRP of $4,500.

Clearly, the Favre-Leuba collection has expanded swiftly since its 2024 relaunch, with a wide range of choices for today’s enthusiasts. It is just as evident, however, that there is still lots of room for growth, and many other horological areas to explore — say, a GMT or a world-timer, other types of calendars, full-fledged elegant dress watches or extreme-depth dive watches, maybe even a modern revival of the altimeter-equipped Bivouac. The brand should be interesting to watch as it makes its way to its milestone 300th anniversary, just over a decade from now. You can learn more at favreleuba.com