Antiquorum To Offer a Favre-Leuba Bivouac 9000 that Actually Reached the Summit of Mount Everest

If you are a regular reader of MONOCHROME, you will be familiar with the Favre-Leuba Bivouac 9000. Inspired by a model from the 1960s, the Bivouac is a beast of a tool watch, standing out as being the only mechanical wristwatch capable of displaying the altitude from 0 to 9,000m – for more information, read our review article here or watch our in-depth video here… this means virtually everywhere on Earth, including the summit of the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest.

Less than a year ago, climber Adrian Ballinger climbed the Everest with a Bivouac 9000 strapped to his wrist. Adrian Ballinger is offering up this watch for auction and will donate the proceeds to the Khumbu Climbing Center / Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation. The idea is to help safeguard the community of indigenous Nepali Sherpa climbers and Phortse, the village that is home to more Everest summiteers than anywhere on Earth. The KCC building is also meant to serve as an earthquake safe community centre, library and medical clinic for this village of 300.

The caseback of the watch is engraved with the name of Adrian Ballinger and the date of the climb. It is delivered with a letter of identification by Adrian Ballinger and a picture of the watch on his wrist at the summit of the Everest. Since Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay set foot on the Everest (with a Rolex Oyster), there are quite a few legends about the watches that made it to the top of the world. Ballinger’s watch offers the opportunity to own one of these ‘legends’ all the while supporting a good cause.

The Auction of this special Favre-Leuba Bivouac will be held by Antiquorum on Sunday, May 12th, 2019 in Geneva. Julien Schaerer, Managing Director and Watch Expert, declared: “Such an accomplishment from Mr Ballinger, a man of action contrasting with the digital world we are living in, is an example of physical and personal development and fulfilment. Nonetheless, the watch was initially destined to him personally, he decided to entrust it to us instead. We are honoured to be the bridge helping him to support Nepali community making the mountains safer, an inspiration to reach the summits.”

The Antiquorum estimate is CHF 8,000 to 12,000. For more information, please visit www.favreleuba.com and www.antiquorum.swiss.