Favre-Leuba is a Swiss luxury wristwatchmanufacturer headquartered in Grenchen, Switzerland, and formerly a pioneer in watch design, manufacturing and distribution.The brand was established in 1737, following the registration of Abraham Favre as a watchmaker.One of his descendants, Henry-Augustus Favre, collaborated with Auguste Leuba, which led to the creation of the brand name Favre-Leuba in 1815, but the company's name was sold in 1985 due to the ongoing quartz crisis, which made manufacturing watches more difficult.
The company has collaborated and supported numerous mountaineers, as their Bivouac watches feature an altimeter and an aneroid barometer.Favre-Leuba is the second-oldest watch brand in the world, with Blancpain having been founded two years prior.From 2011 to 2023, the brand was owned by Titan Company, the watch manufacturing company of the Tata Group. The brand was later acquired by Silvercity brands.
History
Established in 1737, Favre-Leuba is the second-oldest watch brand in the world, with Blancpain having been founded two years earlier in 1735.[1]
An archival document from 13 March 1737 declared Abraham Favre (1702–1790) a watchmaker with his own workshop in
Abraham Favre had always concentrated on improving the technology of his watches, their properties at different temperatures, and the materials used in watchmaking to make more reliable and accurate movements.[3] Frederic Favre's 19-year-old son, Henry-Augustus, collaborated with Auguste Leuba, a member of a family of watchmakers and merchants, creating the brand name Favre-Leuba in 1815 and broadening the family business to the world market.[4]
Further development and innovations
Fritz Favre, who married Adele-Fanny Leuba in 1855, expanded the business across Europe, the Americas and Asia. In 1865, Fritz Favre travelled to India and released his own products there, making the country a very important market for Favre-Leuba, which was the first Swiss company from the industry to have established itself in that country.[4] Favre participated in various national and international exhibitions, such as the Great Exhibition and the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, which were held in 1851 and 1853, respectively.[3] Henry A. Favre, born in 1908 as part of the seventh generation, along with his father and other predecessors from the sixth generation, continued to grow and develop the business by setting up offices and employing representatives across South America, Africa, the Middle-East, Far-East and European markets.[5] By the end of World War II, India was the company's most important country[3] due to its office in Mumbai.[6]
Around 1925, Favre-Leuba produced a single button chronograph and created the original model of the Reverso watch,[4] which was designed to withstand polo games, in the late 1930s.[7] The company continued to make innovations, such as the first manual-winding in-house calibre FL101 movement in 1955, which was first used in the Sea Chief, Sea King, and Sea Raider watch models.[4] In 1957, the company designed FL103 and 104, two automaticcalibers.The new FL251 caliber, an extra-flat, twin-barrel with a central second hand and a power reserve of 50 hours, was launched in 1962,[3] along with the hand-winding wristwatch, Bivouac, which was the first ever mechanical watch with an altimeter and an aneroid barometer.[8]Paul-Émile Victor was one of the first to wear this piece during his Antarctica expedition,
Quartz crisis and aftermath
Florian A. Favre and Eric A. Favre, sons of Henry A. Favre, along with Frederic A. Favre, grandson of Fritz-Augustus Favre, represented the eighth generation. They were the Board of Directors of Favre-Leuba until the management of the company passed out of the hands of the family.[12] The industry-wide quartz crisis brought about by the inexpensive quartz movement introduced in 1969 greatly increased competition for the company's comparatively expensive mechanical watches, forcing the family to sell their company in 1985.[13][6] Afterwards, the company name was passed through different hands,[13] such as Benedom SA and LVMH.
In 2007, Favre-Leuba returned to the watch industry with the launch of The Mercury Collection, which comprises three watches: a Chronograph and a Big Date in rose gold, and a steel Power Reserve.[14]
Collaborations with athletes
Following the creation of the Bivouac in 1962, Favre-Leuba has had a history of collaborating with numerous athletes, especially mountaineers and explorers.In 1964, Italian mountaineer Walter Bonatti used the Bivouac to climb up the north face of Pointe Whymper in the Grandes Jorasses, which was at a nearly vertical slope.Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei wore a Bivouac during her Everest summit in 1975, becoming the first woman to climb Mount Everest.[8] The company launched the Raider Bivouac 9000 at BaselWorld 2017, making it the only watch to mechanically measure altitude up to 9000m.The watch was awarded the best watch in the New Star category by WatchStars.[5][18][19] The 70-member jury, which comprised watch expert, journalists, and collectors, chose 35 watches and of this voted for the New Star 2018 winner.[18]
followed by the Bathy in 1968, the first mechanical watch that not only indicated the dive time and duration, but also accurately measured the diving depth.
The same year the Bathy was released, Favre-Leuba added an automatic winding to its double-barrel calibers, making it one of the first brands to use this combination in production.
The new movements were available with or without calendar function.
After the sale to the Titan Group, the company released new collections of watches in 2016, their Raider and Chief Collections, led by their flagship model, the Raider Harpoon.
In 2017, Favre-Leuba supported many athletes and explorers such as Pen Hadow and Erik de Jong, who led the Arctic Mission.[20] The company also partnered with Satyarup Siddhanta,[21] the youngest mountaineer in the world and the first from India to climb both the Seven Summits and Volcanic Seven Summits.[22] The former Japanese ambassador of Favre-Leuba, Sayuri Kinoshita,[23] broke the world record of a constant no fin dive at the Vertical Blue competition.[24]
Favre-Leuba has collaborated with professional mountaineers such as Adrian Ballinger, who, along with his team, summited Mount Everest with the Raider Bivouac 9000 in May 2018.[25][26] With Ballinger's expedition, the Raider Bivouac 9000 set a record as the only mechanical wristwatch equipped with an aneroid barometer to work on Mount Everest.[27] The brand has also collaborated with Emily Harrington, who used the same watch in her 2018 expedition, as well as Swiss athletes Ralph Weber, Nicolas Hojac,[8] and Ricardo Feller.[4]
