Calling upon the good graces of the Watchcrunch community...again! Vintage Favre-Leuba
Hello everyone! I am in need for some advice yet again! I am in the midst of potentially purchasing this Favre- Leuba, whom I understand to be the second oldest watchbrand in the world, after Blancpain. From my research online, I deduced that everything is original on this piece, but then again, I'm reaching for the stars here as my vintage watch knowledge is still in its infancy. Would the good people @chronotriggered @Aurelian @MelvinHollenberg @Omeganut @MrBloke on this forum give the thumbs up for this piece in terms of authenticity and originality? Any red flags that can be seen from the images attached below? Thank you very much! 🥳
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Apologies, but the only thing I know is how pretty the seconds hand sweep is on spring drive!
I am the furthest things from a vintage expert! All the other gentlemen you have tagged should be able to give you the info you're looking for, sir!
I am going to defer to the others that you mentioned. This is one of the most faked vintage brands in the market. There are many reasons for that and "faked" may be too harsh a term. Favre-Leuba never marketed its watches in the United States, and we rarely see them here. They were early to try to exploit the emerging markets in Asia. As a consequence they are quite common far from me. In many of their markets watch repairers thought nothing of re-dialing watches or swapping movements. Vintage preservation was less important than keeping a watch running. Tropical climates also do terrible things to watches.
Franken rather than faked, but yes, I do double down on that. There are a handful of vintage brands I do not trust, and FL are one.
Saying that - it looks like a good ringer for the FL 250 series (252?) movement, so puts the watch at mid-60s to 70s. It’s not a common movement, but then again, is it the original or is it in one piece, who knows? Does it keep decent time? The dial is one of the better ones I’ve seen of these, it doesn’t scream franken watch to me, but I wouldn’t be 100% certain. Twin Power refers to two mainspring barrels that are used in parallel, housed within that bridge configuration.
I won’t lie, I went on the Malay Carousell site and looked at price: RM480 is around £86 ($110?). I think it’s handsome, but without some sort of paper-trail or record I would be curious as to authenticity, which sucks.
Franken rather than faked, but yes, I do double down on that. There are a handful of vintage brands I do not trust, and FL are one.
Saying that - it looks like a good ringer for the FL 250 series (252?) movement, so puts the watch at mid-60s to 70s. It’s not a common movement, but then again, is it the original or is it in one piece, who knows? Does it keep decent time? The dial is one of the better ones I’ve seen of these, it doesn’t scream franken watch to me, but I wouldn’t be 100% certain. Twin Power refers to two mainspring barrels that are used in parallel, housed within that bridge configuration.
I won’t lie, I went on the Malay Carousell site and looked at price: RM480 is around £86 ($110?). I think it’s handsome, but without some sort of paper-trail or record I would be curious as to authenticity, which sucks.
I agree on it being a cal. 25x movement. Those Farve Leuba "Twin Power" watches are actually pretty cool. They had two serially coupled mainspring barrels, which made the movement very slim and helped with isochronism by keeping the amount of power going to the gear train more stable as the mainspring would let down.
That being said, I have no idea if the watch is authentic! haha As the others above have said, the Farve Leuba watches were popular in India, Pakistan etc. and are often frankened.
This is a cal.252 or 253, depending on whether it's 10.5 or 11.5 lignes in size.
The case doesn't inspire confidence - looking up other Twin-Power pieces, the quality of the case back in the photos is noticeably lower. Add to that the "STAINLESS STEEL BACK," which indicates that only the back is steel - the rest is chrome-plated brass.
The dial... Something about the quality of the FL name doesn't seem right to me.
Apologies, but the only thing I know is how pretty the seconds hand sweep is on spring drive!
I am the furthest things from a vintage expert! All the other gentlemen you have tagged should be able to give you the info you're looking for, sir!
We are on the same rung of the vintage knowledge then! 🤣
Thank you for your comment, good sir!🙏🏼
I am going to defer to the others that you mentioned. This is one of the most faked vintage brands in the market. There are many reasons for that and "faked" may be too harsh a term. Favre-Leuba never marketed its watches in the United States, and we rarely see them here. They were early to try to exploit the emerging markets in Asia. As a consequence they are quite common far from me. In many of their markets watch repairers thought nothing of re-dialing watches or swapping movements. Vintage preservation was less important than keeping a watch running. Tropical climates also do terrible things to watches.
I did not know that! Favre- Leuba is a brand that I recently got to know of, so my knowledge only goes as far as the Wikipedia and Google searches that come with it. I thank you for your insightful knowledge good sir! Based on your feedback and the feedbacks of the good people here, I have decided against the purchase of this timepiece🙏🏼
Franken rather than faked, but yes, I do double down on that. There are a handful of vintage brands I do not trust, and FL are one.
Saying that - it looks like a good ringer for the FL 250 series (252?) movement, so puts the watch at mid-60s to 70s. It’s not a common movement, but then again, is it the original or is it in one piece, who knows? Does it keep decent time? The dial is one of the better ones I’ve seen of these, it doesn’t scream franken watch to me, but I wouldn’t be 100% certain. Twin Power refers to two mainspring barrels that are used in parallel, housed within that bridge configuration.
I won’t lie, I went on the Malay Carousell site and looked at price: RM480 is around £86 ($110?). I think it’s handsome, but without some sort of paper-trail or record I would be curious as to authenticity, which sucks.
Thank you for your comment and time, Chris! Yes I believe the movement is the 25x series although that's where my knowledge ends on this piece. The watch dealer seemed to be little too pushy on this piece with me, which has definitely raised a flag. You're spot on, RM480 is right around 86 pounds, which will make this the most affordable piece in my collection by far. That being said, "Franken" watches are a huge no no for me, so there goes my "sweet" deal. Or so I thought🤣🤣🤣
I thank you again for your time, Chris!
I agree on it being a cal. 25x movement. Those Farve Leuba "Twin Power" watches are actually pretty cool. They had two serially coupled mainspring barrels, which made the movement very slim and helped with isochronism by keeping the amount of power going to the gear train more stable as the mainspring would let down.
That being said, I have no idea if the watch is authentic! haha As the others above have said, the Farve Leuba watches were popular in India, Pakistan etc. and are often frankened.
Thank you for your valuable insight and time good sir! The Twin Power movement was what drew me to this piece in the first place hahaha! However, based on the information I've garnered from this post alone, I'm gonna do a hard pass here. I thank you for your time again good sir! Cheers! 🙏🏼
This is a cal.252 or 253, depending on whether it's 10.5 or 11.5 lignes in size.
The case doesn't inspire confidence - looking up other Twin-Power pieces, the quality of the case back in the photos is noticeably lower. Add to that the "STAINLESS STEEL BACK," which indicates that only the back is steel - the rest is chrome-plated brass.
The dial... Something about the quality of the FL name doesn't seem right to me.
Thank you for your knowledge, good sir! Your comment was the deciding factor for me to do a hard pass on this piece. Even though the price is really good, "franken" watches are a hard no for me. Its a bummer😭
I thank you for your time, good sir! Always a pleasure to partake in such conversations 🙏🏼