Favre Leuba Sea Sky GMT

Now that we're all looking toloss obvious brands to satisfy our watch collecting urges, it's onlya matter of time before vintage Favre Leuba pieces follow the likes of Heuer into the big tme.

Few appreciate that Favre Leuba is the second oldest surviving dial name (after Blancpain) or that it celebrted its 280th annivasary this year.   That's not to say that it hasn't had a rocky ride since being clobbered by the arrival of quartz in the 1980's, a situation that resulted in it being sold by the founding family early ion in the decade.

Now, however, it seems to be in safe hands under the ownership of the giant Tata Group (which, among other things, has taken Jaguar -Land Rover fromzero to hero)and FL CEO Thomas Morf demonstrated his regard for the brand's history with the aunch of the new Bivouac 9000 at this year's Baselworld.

All of which makes us think that original models from the 1960s an '70 might be ones to watch.  This Sea Sky GMT, for example, offers a 43mm case that makes it entirely wearable today together with a dial and bezel design that's both pracitcal and interesting.  And the Valjoux Calibre 724 inside means the new owner shouldn't need to worry about the availability of spare parts for servicing or repire.

For future reference. Watches of Knighsbridge seems to have unusually good access to a wide variety of vintage Favre Leuba models, so keep an eye onits catalogues.