The concept of tool watches isn’t clearly defined. It can be a diver, it can be a chronograph, it can be a pilot’s watch. But what we’ll look at today are instrument pieces for adventure, watches that can perform in most situations: on land, in the air or below the sea level. Tools in their purest […]
Favre-Leuba might be Switzerland’s second-oldest watch brand, it has been revived only recently. Still, this old-young brand has already created a rather large collection, with several interesting complications, all based on one motto: “conquering frontiers”. Favre-Leuba, during the 1960s and 1970s, had a strong focus on tool watches and that’s the idea behind the current line up, including the all-rounder Raider Sea Sky, a chronograph that is now available in bright, zesty colours.
Since the early 1960s, Favre-Leuba has forged a solid portfolio of watches for Action Men, reliable, robust timepieces that appeal to mountaineers, divers, pilots, daredevils – or men who enjoy the look and feel of a professional rugged sports watch. The Raider collection, for example, features beefy (48mm) made-for-extreme-adventure watches like the Bivouac 9000 with […]
If you are a regular reader of MONOCHROME, you will be familiar with the Favre-Leuba Bivouac 9000. Inspired by a model from the 1960s, the Bivouac is a beast of a tool watch, standing out as being the only mechanical wristwatch capable of displaying the altitude from 0 to 9,000m – for more information, read […]
There are not so many watches equipped with a mechanical altimeter out there. Among them is the Favre-Leuba Bivouac 9000, a watch inspired by a vintage, 1960s model of the brand, already equipped with an altimeter. Presented at Baselworld 2017, the modern Bivouac 9000 stands out as being the first mechanical watch capable of displaying […]
Over the past few years, Favre-Leuba, one of the oldest names of the Swiss watch industry, made a strong comeback by releasing a series of rough, sturdy mechanical watches with distinctive designs. The Raider collection with, for instance, the Bivouac, the Bathy or the Harpoon offers gargantuan timepieces, with 46mm to 48mm diameters, featuring unique built-in functions designed for active wear – a depth-gauge for the Bathy or an altimeter for the Bivouac. If these heavy-duty tool-watches for “conquering frontiers” work perfectly in everyday life too, Favre-Leuba has also something for those looking for a watch that would be a bit less rugged and on a more ‘elegant’ side with the Sea King (and the Sea Bird for ladies).
As the end of the year is fast approaching, it is time for us at MONOCHROME to take a look back at the main novelties of 2018 and to decide what were the best watches we’ve seen. As we did with our best watches below EUR 2,000, here’s our second buying guide, this time with the best watches of 2018 priced between EUR 2,000 and EUR 5,000. And this has been a tough selection, as this category is crucial for luxury brands – there’s a huge competition in this price range, as “accessible luxury” companies are fighting with entry-level models of more established names. But here is our top-10, just to give you an idea of what you could get with your hard-earned money this year.
Favre-Leuba has a long tradition of crafting dive watches. A couple of years ago, the brand introduced the Raider Harpoon, a retro-themed dive watch whose quirky design features a barrel shape case with dual crowns and unique time display. The brand now adds a new version, a more ‘tool watch’ take on the model with an all-black colour scheme.
Men are natural pioneers and explorers pushing the limits to reach higher summits or plummet to greater depths. With the advent of the mechanical watch, explorers expressed the need for a piece of equipment to help them in their conquest of new frontiers. In 1962, Favre-Leuba created the Bivouac, a watch equipped with an altimeter and […]
If scuba diving is a popular recreational sports, it is a dangerous activity that needs to be properly prepared and monitored. If a diver ascends too quickly, this can lead to decompression illness that can be painful and life-threatening. As depth increases the physiological effects become greater. A reliable dive watch and a depth gauge are essential pieces of a diving gear to monitor depth and track the duration of an underwater adventure. Both are needed for using decompression tables. Traditionally, divers were using a dive watch and a depth gauge, to calculate decompression time at given depths. Today, many divers today choose to dive with a computer but some still use a mechanical depth gauge, even if used only as a backup.