Description
This is a very hard-to-find circa 1968 Favre-Leuba Bivouac. This watch is the first mechanical altimeter/barometer watch produced. There is an aneroid capsule inside the watch, which changes due to air pressure. A very gentle tap on the crystal will allow the red hand to display the current barometric trend. Over 20 years of collecting, we have owned four of these rare watches in our own collection. This is a prime example with the original turning bezel. The silver dial with original hands is close to pristine. The red hand indicates a rise or fall in air pressure due to change in elevation or barometric pressure. We find ourselves wearing one of these every couple of weeks or prior to a large, impending storm. I love the large and striking 40mm size along with the thick 15mm rise off the wrist. This is a functional and great-looking watch! We have purchased these watches only from Switzerland, and we learned they were marketed to mountaineers, skiers, and hikers in the Alps. The steel case on this watch is in stellar shape. The manual winding movement was just cleaned and is accurately keeping time. Favre-Leuba is one of the world’s oldest watch companies.