FS: Vintage Favre-Leuba Square Steel BLUE Daymatic “Cioccolatone”

[tomvox1]

Up for sale is this very cool and highly uncommon vintage Favre-Leuba Daymatic with beautiful blue dial and impressive square “Cioccolatone”-style all steel water resistant case. Like most rectangular and square watches, this wonderful late-1960s/early-1970s model wears larger than its dimensions on paper might indicate and delivers great wrist presence, as you can see from the photos of it on my 7-inch wrist. The rather heavy and ingeniously engineered steel case features wide, downward sloping beveled edges for a distinctly muscular feel not unlike a smaller version of Heuer’s famous Monaco.

It’s such an unusual case design, in fact, that despite my usual desire to show movement & inner back pictures, I don’t feel I have the skill to open what seems to be a complex split crown construction. Nevertheless, I believe this Daymatic features the multi-house collaboratively designed automatic FL 1152 caliber under the hood, with its fascinating quickset date advancement via pushing [i]in[/in] the crown. It was last fully serviced right before I bought it in mid-late 2021 and is working perfectly.

I haven’t seen more than a handful of these “Cioccolatone” Daymatic models and never with this exact case design or a blue dial, making it highly unlikely that you will run into anyone else wearing this watch in the wild. The stunning vertically brushed cobalt blue dial with original luminous also happens to be in Mint condition. The watch itself appears unpolished and is in Very Good to Excellent overall vintage condition, showing honest wear commensurate with having been worn and enjoyed for most of its long life. In addition to the signed dial, case and crown, this sporty yet elegant Favre-Leuba also comes with its likely original and period correct signed steel buckle, a nice bonus for the attentive collector. Though increasingly difficult to find, there are still some vintage watches out there where you don’t have to spend crazy money to get a ton of style on your wrist. I'd say this striking Daymatic “Cioccolatone” is proof of that.

The asking price for this sweet square blue Favre-Leuba Daymatic is $1,375 USD, including fully insured domestic US shipping. International shipping will be +$75 due to the sharp increase in FedEx’s charges. Bank Wire preferred but Paypal is OK on this transaction with +2% to the buyer (sorry, I can't accept F&F). Payment must be made in US DOLLARS. Watch will ship upon full clearance of the funds, as well as any necessary bank vetting. Feel free to reach out via DM or email at either tomvox1@gmail.com or tomvox1@hotmail.com if you have any further questions.



























CASE & BACK: Punching well above its weight, as most square watches do, this Daymatic measures an eminently wearable 33mm wide (not including crown) by 37mm long lug-to-lug and a slim 10mm thick to the top of the crystal. The rather over-engineered and quite substantial case design features, I believe, some sort of split-crown method for removing the dial, movement and back from the top case in one piece once the locking ring has been unscrewed and thereby gaining potential access to the movement. I admit it’s a mystery to me and I’m not going to risk messing things up by scuffling with it despite my usual practice of providing movement shots. Suffice to say, its an impressively secure and possibly unique design in a water resistant square watch. The case shows no apparent polish and therefore retains its original brushed & polished surfaces, as well as sharp edges to the pronounced downward sloping shoulders. The watch has been worn throughout its 50-year or more existence and shows numerous superficial scratches to the top of the case and sides, as well as one or two deeper nicks — Very Good unpolished vintage condition overall. While there are also some superficial scratches to the back, the raised flat part of the “dome”, which accommodates the rotor inside, features an impressive array of very crisp Favre-Luba markings and nomenclature. Overall, the back of the watch is in Excellent cosmetic condition.

DIAL & HANDS: Absolutely gorgeous and Mint vertically brushed cobalt blue dial, which can change from lighter to darker tones depending on the angle and the light. This handsome blue dial also features applied faceted horizontal markers with original luminous dots along their edges, the applied FL "hourglass" logo and a cool porthole-style date window between “4” & “5”. All of the white dial text is crisp and legible. Original luminous-filled thick silver stick hands are Near Mint with just a bit of oxidation and the matching silver sweep seconds is likewise Near Mint. Simply a stunning and finely executed blue dial in wonderfully well preserved original condition.

CROWN: Original, large signed Favre-Leuba crown winds in the first position, pulls out to the time-setting position and also, in a neat little trick, jumps the date by firmly pushing it in past the winding position, repeatedly if necessary. The crown operates all these functions as designed and also still retains a crisp hourglass logo with sharp knurling and only minor cosmetic marks — Excellent condition.

CRYSTAL: Model-specific original square thick acrylic crystal with slightly beveled edges is clean and clear with just some minor polish-resistant “swirlies” from the years — Excellent vintage condition.

MOVEMENT: As stated above, this case design is a bit above my pay grade so I’m not going to risk damaging anything by trying to extract the movement. But under all that complex interlocking steel is, I believe, the high-grade caliber FL 1152. This is another iteration of the excellent family of durable automatic movements jointly developed by Favre-Leuba, Girard-Perregaux, Doxa, Eberhard, and Zodiac in the 1960s. Not only can the date be quickest via push-button crown but the date change itself at midnight is as quick as a camera shutter, à la Rolex. (I assume, like most quickset calibers, you still shouldn’t jump the date between around 9pm and Midnight.) This quality caliber was fully serviced shortly before I purchased it in September 2021. Therefore, It is keeping excellent time with a strong power reserve and the quickset date function is working perfectly. This is guaranteed to be the case at the time of shipment.

STRAP & BUCKLE: This fantastic Daymatic comes on a lightly used stylish tan leather strap with white contrast stitching, as well as its period correct FL-signed steel buckle. This watch has a lug width of 19mm.

As a matter of policy, I make NO guarantees for the water resistance of this watch in any way, shape or form.

This great vintage Favre-Leuba Daymatic “Cioccolatone” is guaranteed genuine, offered with a 3-day inspection period from the date of receipt and may be returned for a full refund (less any shipping costs incurred by the buyer). This refund is unconditional and once I get the watch back in exactly the same condition as it was sent to you, your money will be refunded. Once the 3 days are over, the sale will be considered FINAL.

Thanks for looking,
T.
tomvox1@gmail.com
tomvox1@hotmail.com

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