Favre Leuba shakes off the cobwebs and relaunches with five new collections

Buffy Acacia

• Favre Leuba is returning to the watch world for the third time since 1985, this time with three whole collections.
• It was founded in 1737, making it one of the oldest watch brands around.
• The three new collections include the ‘70s-styled Chief, two versions of the Deep Blue dive watch, and a recreation of the vintage Sea Sky Chronograph.

Four decades on from the quartz crisis, it really feels like we’re currently in the mechanical boom. It’s not just that the romanticisation of mechanical watches is at an all-time high, but there has been an incredible amount of historic Swiss watch brands being resurrected. The return of Favre Leuba was recently announced to coincide with Geneva Watch Days 2024, becoming one of the world’s oldest active watch brand since its foundation in 1737. This isn’t the first time the brand has released watches since its sale by the original family in 1985, however, with 22 new models across three collections, it’s undoubtedly a strong push to the forefront of Swiss watchmaking.

Helmed by CEO Patrik Hoffman, previously of Ulysse Nardin and WatchBox, the modern incarnation of Favre Leuba isn’t going to pull any punches. Across its fresh catalogues, its watches will reside in the highly-competitive price bracket of CHF 2,250 to CHF 4,375, ranging from simple three-handers to mid-level luxury chronographs. Its movements are going to be supplied by La Joux-Perret, a Swiss movement manufacture owned by Citizen, who just two years ago introduced a more affordable line of movements directly challenging the likes of ETA and Sellita. Favre Leuba’s goals are lofty, and it’s hoping to build enough momentum for thousands of orders each year, and is even planning to release a tourbillon in 2025. Multiple workshops are being established in the Swiss town of Grenchen, as well as a museum dedicated to the brand’s history.

Although more than 280 years of archival releases is a resource well-worth plundering, Favre Leuba isn’t going to rely entirely on vintage reissues. That isn’t to say taking advantage of heritage is a bad thing, but the three new Favre Leuba ranges take the opportunity to branch out in a more contemporary direction. For example, the Deep Blue collection of dive watches actually goes down two pathways. There’s the Deep Blue Revival, which is a relatively faithful recreation of the original skin divers from the 1960s, marking the model’s 60th anniversary. It has the same 39mm diameter and grey sunburst dial with aged lume, even if the acrylic crystal and bakelite bezel have both been upgraded to modern sapphire. Then there’s the Deep Blue Renaissance, which tightens up the vintage quirk, bulks the case up to 40mm, and explores rich palettes of blue, green, and smokey black.

Another of the new flagships is the Favre Leuba Chief range, which consists of both a chronograph and a time-and-date model. The cases are inspired by a Valjoux-powered Favre Leuba chronograph from the ‘70s, although the softened-square cases have been refined and further chiselled for their debut under the Chief nomenclature. The Chief Date feels particularly modern thanks to its dial, which utilises a pattern of the Favre Leuba hourglass logo. In fact, the hourglass motif features strongly on all of the new watches, with an applied badge placed above 6 o’clock and being used on the signed crowns. The calibre L113 that powers the Chief Chronograph will be more attractive to the discerning collector than a standard Valjoux 7750 however, thanks to its column-wheel actuation.

Finally, the Favre Leuba Sea Sky Chronograph does what its name suggests and combines pilot’s watch utility with water-faring capability. This model is definitely the most accurate in terms of vintage replication, even down to the stylised logo and dual tachymeter-telemeter gauges. Its modern upgrades lie in the glossy ceramic bezels, textured dials and updated colour repertoire including blue and brown models, but it otherwise screams early ‘70s. The 40mm stainless steel case is solid but honed with its chamfered edges, and the leather straps definitely add retro flair, although you may need to swap them out if you want to take advantage of the case’s 100-metre water resistance rating.

Favre Leuba Chief, Deep Blue, and Sea Sky collection price and availability

The availability of the 22 new Favre Leuba references has yet to be confirmed. Full price details in the spec sheet below.

Brand	Favre Leuba
Model	Chief Date Chief Chronograph Deep Blue Revival Deep Blue Renaissance Sea Sky Chronograph
Case Dimensions	40mm (D) x 10.8mm (T) x 47.88mm (LTL) (Chief Date) 41mm (D) x 14mm (T) x 48.74mm (LTL) (Chief Chronograph) 39mm (D) x 12.75mm (T) x 48mm (LTL) (Deep Blue Revival) 40mm (D) x 12.69mm (T) x 48.2mm (LTL) (Deep Blue Renaissance) 40mm (D) x 15.23mm (T) (Sea Sky Chronograph)
Case Material	Stainless steel
Water Resistance	100 metres 300 metres (Deep Blue Revival and Renaissance)
Crystal	Sapphire
Dial	Blue, black, and green hourglass pattern (Chief Date) Navy blue, light blue, and black sunburst (Chief Chronograph) Grey sunburst (Deep Blue Revival) Blue, black, and green gradient (Deep Blue Renaissance) Black, blue, and brown (Sea Sky Chronograph)
Strap	Steel bracelet or rubber strap (Chief models and Deep Blue Renaissance) Steel bracelet (Deep Blue Revival) Leather strap (Sea Sky Chronograph)
Movement	La Joux-Perret G100 (Chief Date and Deep Blue models), automatic La Joux-Perret L113 (Chief Chronograph), automatic La Joux-Perret L112 (Sea Sky Chronograph), automatic
Power Reserve	68 hours (Chief Date and Deep Blue models) 60 hours (Chronograph models)
Functions	Hours, minutes, seconds, date (Chief Date and Deep Blue models) Hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph (Chief Chronograph) Hours, minutes, small seconds, date, chronograph (Sea Sky Chronograph)
Availability	To be confirmed
Price	CHF 2,300 (Chief Date, ~US$2,730) CHF 2,375 (Chief Date on bracelet, ~US$2,820) CHF 4,300 (Chief Chronograph on rubber, ~US$5,100) CHF 4,375 (Chief Chronograph on bracelet, ~US$5,190) CHF 2,200 (Deep Blue Renaissance on rubber, ~US$2,610) CHF 2,300 (Deep Blue Renaissance on bracelet, ~US$2,730) CHF 2,250 (Deep Blue Revival on bracelet, ~US$2,670) CHF 3,950 (Sea Sky Chronograph on leather, ~US$4,690)