Why a 25-Piece Tourbillon can Turn The Middle-Market.
Putting a Spark in Leadership: What the World of Favre Leuba in 2024 has Re-Wired
The now-silent maison shook back to the radar of collectors in 2024 after almost a decade of minimal production. The new CEO Patrik Hoffmann, who has scaled the Ulysse Nardin Freak and WatchBox Switzerland, eliminates a hodgepodge catalogue in favour of a visible pillar: Chief, Sea Sky and Deep Blue. Internally the change entailed greater supply planning and a 30 % reduction of SKU resulting in resource by allowing a more aggressive product development. It was a message when taken externally that Favre Leuba would no longer be positioning itself on price but on leap of identity. This action paid off; sell-through of the redone Chief automatic improved by 14 percent (58 % to 82 %) in the European ADs in the nine months (Swiss Retail Pulse, 2025).
Obtaining Goal, Getting Aspirations
In majority of the cases, re-born brands would inflate the prices and then ask questions afterwards. Favre Leuba went the other way around. The mechanical references are still between CHF 2,200 and CHF 4,400 only, leaving the door open to individuals who may want to make a first purchase. The Chief Tourbillon 41 mm, though, places itself on purpose at CHF 24,800 or about a third of the median independent Swiss tourbillon price, hovering about sticker shock. This stairs-not-elevator tagline is a paraphrase of the Longines Spirit Flyback tactic, and it is used to allow Favre Leuba to appear in-between fan forums and high-end relaxation areas (Morgan Stanley & LuxeConsult, 2025).
Where Heritage Meets Avant-Garde Engineering, The Mojon Partnership
In order to justify its first high complication in 1737, Favre Leuba reached back to Chronode, Jean-Francois Mojon, designer of the Legacy Machines 2 of MB&F and the Antarctique R revelation of Czapek. Mojon re-realised Chronode C502 foundation into the FL T01, extending the tourbillon cage to 14.85 mm as a showpiece, but reducing overall height to 11.45 mm to permit 100 m water assurance without a sapphire sandwich. The ruling responds to the demands of the contemporary wearers who would demand a watch that could live through an encounter in the pool as it could in a boardroom. Mojon describes the project as a work of functional sculpture which points to a wider backlash against engineering time and instead opting to bring the touch of solidity into the equation (Chronode Lab Notes, 2024).
Heightening the Depth: The Dial of the Chief Tourbillon: An Architectural Surface
The dial of the Chief Tourbillon tells the story of a micro-city. Sun-ray triangles are raised to reflect ambient light and adjacent matte recessions absorb it, producing a living chiaroscuro, which varies by 15 degrees of wrists roll. In an attempt to reach the 0.15 mm relief, Favre Leuba resorts to triple-strike stamping-tolerance (2 mm plus and minus 0.01 mm) that makes use of technology normally used to stamp medical-grade titanium. To the viewer, this is more than a mere ornament; the dancing light also serves as a hands-free compass reading time at strange positions, a light reference to mountaineering legacy of the brand.
The FL T01: Reworked Mechanics of the 21 st Century
The FL T01 instead uses its larger plate diameter to integrate the cage into the mainplate and thus increase the plate diameter by nearly 30 percent with enough clearance to lengthen the mainspring and still fit in the same amount of coil copper (for about 60-hour power reserve), but with almost half the thickness of the plates. It also uses silicon escape wheels with a 40-nm diamond-like coating, an early commercialisation by CSEM in 2023. The laboratory tests indicated that there is a 18 % reduction in friction compared to plain silicon, meaning that it will have longer service cycles and can retain its amplitude much better with age (CSEM Materials Report, 2024).
Hourglass in action/Cage to Caseback Symbolism
The upper bridge of the tourbillon is a replica of the hourglass which is the logo of Favre Leuba and every turn is a literal turn of time. Rotate the watch, and spiral relief of laser-engraved hourglass on a satin ground emerges again, supporting the story on its integrity. There will be just 25 sequentially-numbered editions made-up- it will coincide well with its 2025 target being that not more than 20 complication runs are made in order to accommodate its aftermarket resilience. The secondary-market analytics indicate that a sub-50-piece drops retain 92 % of MSRP after two years, compared to 67 % on runs of more than 150 (WatchCharts Index, 2025).
The most important technical features and their comparison
| Specification | Chief Tourbillon | Mid-Tier Tourbillon Industry |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture of movement | Manual winding FL T01 integrated cage | Modular on ETA/Sellita basis tourbillon |
| Diameter, | 41 mm | 42-44 mm |
| Thickness | 11.45 mm | 12-13.5 mm |
| Power reserve | 60 h | 48-72 h |
| Water resistance | 100 m | 30-50 m |
| Price (CHF) | 24,800 | 28,000 45,000 |
| Quantity of the items produced | 25 items | 100-250 items |
REFERENCE: Favre Leuba Product Sheet, 2025
Similar Independent Tourbillon Offerings (comparisons 2023-2025)
| Brand | Model | Price CHF | production run |
|---|---|---|---|
| Favre Leuba | Chief Tourbillon | 24,800 | 25 |
| Czapek | Scouting on the Antarctique | 38,000 | 100 |
| H. Moser | Pioneer Cylindrical Tourbillon Skeleton | 79000 | 50 |
| Parmigiani Fleurier | Tonda PF Flying No. | 130,000 | 25 |
SOURCES: Watch Industry Independent Data Bank, 2025
The Implication of The Launch to Collectors
The timing of the leadership of the Chief Tourbillon coincides with a period when the Switzerland watch exports are enjoying a record high of CHF 28.3 billion in 2024, but the export of watches priced below CHF 5,000 have declined by 11 %. On the one hand, by placing a hand-made tourbillon into a price niche under CHF 25 k, Favre Leuba manages to take advantage of a price vacuum in the segment between mass-produced micro-rotor watches and seven-figure artisan watches. Initial drops in Zurich and Singapore took only 48 hours, a sign that a combination of regimented scarcity and actual technical quality will break through the cluttered social media channels. To the fan, who has long clamored to get his hands on a movement with a Mojon signature without taking out a mortgage, the model provides a very special opportunity to do so; to the brand, this model secures a renaissance strategy that balances affordable entry points and dreamlike flagships (Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, 2025).
Author Bio
Dr. Amelia Clark is a horology author and columnist working particularly on independent Swiss watch-manufacturing firms, micro-engineering, and market analysis. She has creviced Geneva, Hong Kong and Dubai luxury salons in a physical fieldwork of more than twelve years.
