Lot 297

Favre Leuba "Bivouac Altimeter", Case No. 774, Ref. 53203, Cal. F320, 40 mm, circa 1962
A gentleman's rare and unusual vintage mountain climber wristwatch with barometer and altimeter
Case: steel, screw back, revolving Bakelite altitude scale bezel, Fixo-Flex-S steel bracelet with screwed SOS air pressure capsule. Dial: silvered, outer barometer markings and red hand for reading the altitude. Movm.: 1/2 plate movement, Glucydur screw balance.
A 10 mm difference of stands for 125 metres difference in height. At the beginning of the climb, the ring is set to the start altitude; the position of the red hand later displays the current altitude. Changes in the ambient pressure are not taken into consideration – to do this, one would need to listen to weather reports on the radio, which will give the pressure at sea level. Normally this does not vary too much from one day to another, but in extreme circumstances a difference of 100 mm is possible, compromising the altitude reading by as much as 1,250 metres.
Charles Berner founded the company Favre Leuba in 1923; it became part of the Ebauche Group in 1933. The company is in Peseux, Neuchâtel.

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