| History of Favre-Leuba Founded: 1737 (as Favre-Leuba in 1815) Founding place: Le Locle, Switzerland Founded by: Abraham Favre Current headquarters: Solothurn, Switzerland Owned by: Titan Company Limited Official name: Favre-Leuba AG  |
The history of Favre-Leuba starts in the 18th century. On the 13th of March 1737 Abraham Favre (1702-1790) started a workshop in Le Locle, Switzerland. There are archival documents stating that Abraham Favre was a watchmaker with his own workshop at that time, according to Wikipedia. So the ‘brand name’, if there was any, probably was Favre.
Favre-Leuba’s website reports that Abraham began his watchmaker apprenticeship in 1718 and around 1749 he was appointed ‘Maître horloger du Locle’ (master watchmaker of Le Locle). On the 1st of October 1792, Abraham Favre II (1740-1823), the son of the founder, founds the company ‘A. Favre & Fils’ with his sons Frédéric and Henry-Louis.
In 1815 Henry-Augustus Favre, the son of Frédéric Favre collaborated with Auguste Leuba, a member of a family of watchmakers & merchants, to create the brand name Favre-Leuba. In 1908 Henri Favre-Leuba (1865-1961) becomes head of the family business. He remained president of the board of directors until his death in 1961. The company stayed in the Favre family for eight generations but in 1969, when the quartz watch came on the scene, it had difficulties to run their business. The family finally sold the brand in 1985. It went into different hands and it seems it finally kind of disappeared.
Classic models Favre Leuba are the Bivouac, a watch with an altimeter, and the Bathy, a diving watch. The brand is now being revived: on November 16th 2011, Titan Company Limited, the watch manufacturing company of the Tata group, acquired Favre-Leuba.
The history of Favre-Leuba:
1702 – Birth of Abraham Favre
1718 – Abraham Favre starts his apprenticeship
1737 – (13th of March) Abraham Favre starts a workshop in Le Locle
1740 – Birth of Abraham Favre II
1749 – Abraham Favre is appointed ‘Maître horloger du Locle’
1792 – Abraham Favre II founds A. Favre & Fils with his sons Frédéric and Henry-Louis
1815 – Henry-Augustes Favre starts a partnership with Auguste Leuba
1815 – Founding of the brand Favre-Leuba
1896 – The company headquarters were relocated from Le Locle to Geneva
1908 – Henri Favre-Leuba (1865-1961) becomes head of the family business
1963 – Officially registered (again) as Manufacture d’Horlogerie Favre-Leuba S.A.
1968 – Last model of the ‘old’ Favre-Leuba (Harpoon) introduced
1985 – Favre family sells the brand
2011 – (16th of November) Titan Company Limited buys the brand
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