When it comes to divers, I must say that there is no watch that is disproportionately under the radar than the Favre Leuba Deep Blue First Execution. With this piece, it all comes down to just how high quality the watch is and how uniquely designed it is.
Let’s begin with the stainless steel case. Sized at a perfect 39mm, it features straight lugs with thick bevels and a unidirectional black acrylic bezel graduated to 60 minutes with a luminous triangle at 12 o’clock. This is a proper divers watch too, demonstrated by the screw-down crown, which incidentally most divers of its era did not have. In fact, the Favre Leuba Deep Blue was one of the first watches to be certified waterproof up to 200m! Just from the case construction and the little details, you can tell that this piece is pure quality!
Moving on to the dial, the design is totally unique with a silver grey sunburst dial with elongated lume filled hour markers. To aide legibility, at 12,3,6 & 9 the hour markers are extended even more to create a crosshair effect. Couple this with broad arrow hands, that is a lot of lume for a watch! Furthermore, the asymmetric design is a nice touch with the applied Favre Leuba logo between 10 and 11 o’clock complimenting the date window between 4 and 5 o’clock.
Lastly, rarity. This is not a common watch and I can't imagine they made too many back in the day. Alongside this, the example you see here today is in absolutely pristine condition with an unpolished case and near flawless dial. With its muscular straight bevelled lugs and heavy presence, it is a great rugged and casual watch on the wrist. This is as collectable and underrated as it gets!
