Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Favre-Leuba Raider Bathy 120 MemoDepth – A Rugged Dive Watch with Mechanical Depth Gauge
After a watch made for Mount Everest, here is Favre-Leuba's instrument for the depths.
Today, we’re heading to Solothurn, Switzerland, the headquarters of watch brand Favre-Leuba, a dive, action and tool watch specialist. The brand has been quiet for several years but was back in the limelight recently with a collection of rugged, functional timepieces, like the Bivouac and the Harpoon – watches that pay tribute to the rich history of the brand, which was already specialized in such instrument-like pieces. Recently, Favre-Leuba launched a new, bold dive watch featuring a cool, mechanical depth gauge. In our latest movie on MONOCHROME, we’re going to take a closer look at the Favre-Leuba Raider Bathy 120 MemoDepth.
Favre-Leuba already had a lot of experience with its mechanical altimeter… It now applies it to the depths.
Following an already large collection of rugged and functional timepieces such as the Raider Harpoon or the impressive Bivouac 9000, Favre-Leuba introduced in 2018 another bold dive watch packing multi-functional punch and a cool (and rare) mechanical depth gauge, the Raider Bathy 120 MemoDepth. The cool factor of this watch comes from the presence of not one but two scales to indicate the depth – the classic depth gauge is already a rare feature in modern watchmaking, so this makes this watch even more surprising. The centre hand of the Bathy 120 MemoDepth, coaxial to the hours and minutes, shows the current depth. The 3 o’clock sub-dial records the critical maximum depth reached (up to 120m) secured with a reset pusher at 4 o’clock.
The back of the watch reveals the mechanism that makes this capable of displaying the depth: the aneroid capsule. When diving, depth increases pressure. Every 10 metres (33 ft) of depth adds another bar. As the pressure increases, the capsule contracts. Linear motion is transmitted to a gear mechanism and converted into a rotational movement. This module is crafted in-house, and based on a hand-wound calibre FL321 based on the Eterna Caliber 39 re-engineered by Favre-Leuba. A built-in mechanical limiter ensures that neither the pressure membrane nor the depth gauge is damaged if the wearer dives deeper than the optimal range.
After creating a watch capable of measuring altitudes even on top of Mount Everest, the Bivouac 9000, Favre-Leuba proposes another cool, instrument-like timepiece, relying on the same technology, but not for the depths of the seas.
More details at www.favre-leuba.com.
