Favre Leuba Revives Chief Chronograph: revive old glories

This time last year it was announced at the annual Geneva Watch Days that the world’s second-oldest dial name would return – despite not having made a single timepiece in more than three years. Founded in 1737, Favre Leuba is just two years younger than Blancpain, watchmaking’s oldest manufacturer still in operation.

Favre Leuba was among many Swiss makers to fall victim to the quartz crisis of the 1970s, prior to which it was known for innovations such as its single-button chronograph of 1925 and the flip-case Reverso watch – several years before it became inextricably linked with Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1931. It also developed the first wristwatch to be fitted with both an altimeter and a barometer for mountaineering use (1962) and the first diving watch to incorporate
a mechanical depth gauge (1968).

Even those ingenious creations couldn’t prevent the company going to the wall in 1985, after which it passed from the founding family through the hands of numerous owners, all of which failed to make a go of it. The penultimate of these was Titan, owned by Indian engineering giant Tata, which bought Favre Leuba in 2011 only to put it back into hibernation in 2020 before selling it to watch retailer Ethos last year after it failed again, despite recreating some of those old classics using modern materials and manufacturing techniques.

There were models such as the Bivouac 9000 that gave buyers the opportunity to be entered into a draw to trek through the Swiss Alps and the ingenious Bathy 120 Memodepth, a 48mm titanium dive watch with a depth gauge capable of recording descents of up to 120m.

Another revived piece was the aviation-inspired Sky Chief which was relaunched in a 43mm case and offered in a series of executions, the best of which was a burgundy-dialled effort with a rugged coloured suede strap. And it’s to the Sky Chief that Favre Leuba’s current boss Patrick Hoffmann has given a motoring makeover in a bid to get the brand on track.

Now known simply as Chief, it takes the design of its cushion case from 1970 driver’s watch Chrono Valjoux 73 and majors on overall high quality. The chronograph movement features a column-wheel mechanism with vertical clutch and combines decorations such as blued screws, Geneva stripes and perlage.

The dial, meanwhile, gets both brushed and sand-blasted finishes with applied hour markers. Choose to wear it behind the wheel on a rubber strap or steel bracelet.

Favre Leuba Chief, from £4300.favreleuba.com

German maker MeisterSinger’s USP lies in the fact that it produces one-handed watches – which, once you get used to them, seem entirely logical. This Edition JE pays homage to the Jaguar E-type with British Racing Green dial highlights, cognac-coloured minute markers (referencing wooden steering wheels) and silver numerals intended to evoke the glint of wire wheels. Each 36mm watch is  supplied with a 1.18-scale E-type model mounted on a plinth with the Palace of Westminster as a backdrop.

MeisterSinger Edition JE, £1980. meistersinger.com

September sees the launch of three different watches by Japanese giant Seiko, all of which celebrate the Datsun 240Z rally car of the 1970s. Our pick of the trio is this solar-powered, 41mm chronograph that features a bezel font based on the 240’s dashboard instruments and dark red detailing inspired by the livery of the car in which Kenyan driver Shekhar Mehta won the 1973 East African Safari Rally. The case back is decorated with an engraving of their victorious Z, showing its distinctive matt-black bonnet.

Seiko Speedtimer Solar Datsun, £880. seikowatches.com