# Favre - Leuba Geneve, Sea King



## Nigelp (Jan 28, 2015)

Just received this lovely 30mm military crown F L Sea King. Its a lovely original. Which makes a change given all the redials and frankens. Its running well. The case is stainless and its the full water resistant military spec, Sea King manual wind with big crown and 30mm long lug case. Its a gem. The plating was badly worn. So being stainless i stripped it and polished it and it come up as new almost. Crystal and dial are good. It was on an old gold expander from the 70s which ive ditched in favour of a fluco racing.











































































































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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

Million times better on that leather. Well done looks good


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## Nigelp (Jan 28, 2015)

bridgeman said:


> Million times better on that leather. Well done looks good


 thanks, it was tedious work, but worth it, took me all afternoon with autosol. ;-)


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Nigelp said:


> thanks, it was tedious work, but worth it, took me all afternoon with autosol. ;-)


 You wouldn't think it was the same watch, nice job.


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## Nigelp (Jan 28, 2015)

WRENCH said:


> You wouldn't think it was the same watch, nice job.


 thanks mate, skills built up on sanding and filling rusty mercs and BM's since i was 17 not to mention Jags ;-)


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## davidcxn (Nov 4, 2010)

That's a fantastic transformation and has given the watch a new lease of life, well done Nigel. :thumbsup:


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## stdape (Mar 9, 2018)

Does look good with the sand down. Time and patience pays


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## Nigelp (Jan 28, 2015)

stdape said:


> Does look good with the sand down. Time and patience pays


 yes thanks i did have to use a bit of 800's wet and dry too ;-) I think the amazing thing is the crystal was unmarked and the movement really clean, so maybe someone had intentions of wearing it again which never came to be for some reason. It certainly looked as if someone had, had it made usable again in the same condition that they took it off maybe quiet a long time ago and then uncannily never put it on.


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## Tazmo61 (Oct 3, 2016)

Great job on a lovely looking FL Sea king , Nigel . The FL Cal 253 twin barrel movement looks to be in great condition too . Congrats on your new addition . .


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## Nigelp (Jan 28, 2015)

Tazmo61 said:


> Great job on a lovely looking FL Sea king , Nigel . The FL Cal 253 twin barrel movement looks to be in great condition too . Congrats on your new addition . .


Thanks ive measured it roughly in the pic below id say its approx 26mm case of watch is 30mm with 16 lugs. Cheers nigel.
















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## Nigelp (Jan 28, 2015)

Engraved 253 under balance.









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## Tazmo61 (Oct 3, 2016)

A lovely clean example of the FL 253 , very nice :thumbsup:


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## Nigelp (Jan 28, 2015)

I found a nice little write up on the movement here, sounds a nice little engine, from what i can gather the twin barrels even out the torque when winding and put less stress in one area, add smoothness and longevity and a good power reserve. From what is written its a nicely finished movement too. Seems FL were turning out a nice in house movement just before quartz came along. It does wind very smoothly thats the first thing i noticed in the feel of it.

https://www.watchtalkforums.info/forums/thread67678.html

they've gone to quiet some detail on WUS

https://forums.watchuseek.com/f11/incoming-favre-leuba-cal-253-a-830051.html

"The twin barrels represent two interesting design features, only one of which usually gets discussed. The first is that two springs in parallel provides a much flatter power curve over a 24-hour period, because the watch runs from a spring that is kept wound by the second mainspring. The other feature is that the two winding gears are connected by a spur gear, and the two barrel gears are also connected by a spur gear. The result is that the two gears balance one anther so that there is little or no force on the winding gear bearings. This aspect is one major feature admire by Dr. Ranfft, and it certainly piques the interest of my engineer brain. Roland think this is among the most durable winding trains around."

It also seems to be called the 'Twin Power' heres a short video.


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## happyal27 (Jun 25, 2019)

Lovely watch and looks stunning on the leather strap.


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## Watch_Me (Nov 9, 2009)

The FL 253 is a great movement, has served me well! Cheers!


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