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13ZN Chronographs Inquiries and Information.

alphabeta81
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Syrte Syrte
I don’t think I « shat ». I’m a lady and I have manners. I did my best to « suggest » very politely and to draw « KiNDLY » your attention to a serious issue.
Others have already provided explanations- I don’t see the need to duplicate what others have said.
If you had asked nicely I might have tried to expand— but since you’re being rude I don’t see why I should spend the time.

Pretty certain that comment was not referring to the kindly drawing of attention in your first paragraph, but rather your unquestionably and unnecessarily rude comment of "especially if you’ve only been paying attention for 6 months" which added nothing to the discussion (and actually harmed it, sadly). And your "I don't think there is the slightest question" - which feigns expertise above others on the forum and dismisses a heavily worn outer track and mint inner dial which by definition raises questions - made it even worse.

My advice FWIW - you could have and should have simply ended your message with "Just because you’ve never seen it doesn’t mean it’s wrong" which is a true and fair statement. But stating a made up 6 months (as if to downplay the other's experience, despite not knowing anything about said person) simply came off as childish and argumentative.

I give that as kind and honest feedback. But thank you for the rest of your comment. I joined the forum recently because of the many wonderful experts here and those that share their knowledge, yourself included. Take care.
 
Syrte
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@alphabeta81 I am sorry if the latter part of my comment offended you.
It was indeed an inference from your mention you considered yourself a newbie, along with @jsducote’s assertive conclusions.

Your humility is remarkable.
Unfortunately there are many who have no such humility and who pick apart watches they actually don’t know about — without any regard to the damage potentially caused by their cavalier attitude.

My annoyance with such people may have been unfairly directed to your comments.

I’m no expert on 13ZNs but I have now spent years looking at hundreds and hundreds of Longines watches— and always do my best to avoid disparaging comments when I just don’t know.

When you said « yeah it looks good » I thought you meant it looks pretty but that you were questioning its originality.
Edited:
 
alphabeta81
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What a nice and classy reply. Thank you, Syrte!

I think people with limited experience can often call themselves experts, which bothers me. I am inspired by @DirtyDozen12 who speaks with great humility and kindness to me and to my friends who have contacted him, despite his probably forgetting more things than I will ever know about Longines. So while I do have 10 years of experience, I consider myself a newbie that is still learning.

You are right - people do pick apart watches in cavalier fashion many times, often with casual statements like "looks too good to be true to me" or "just looks off" or nonsense like that. This is terrible behavior and should be called out. So I understand your point of view and frustration.

I had not thought of that, but you make a good point that "it looks good to me" could be taken as aesthetics and not originality. Fair enough.

That said, I still cannot find an example of a super dark outer track and light inner track, and I cannot explain why the outer track has wear and the inner track does not. My view is that there is likely a good explanation and other such examples (both of which I hope we all can uncover) and that the watch is good especially given the reputation of the seller as well as the fonts, hands, etc all being 100% correct.
 
jsducote
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Nevermind. I realize that I stepped over the class barrier and understand my place in the hierarchy. I've updated my previous comment and will display my * whenever appearing in public.
 
alphabeta81
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Looks good to me, the dial that is (layout, fonts, etc). The sub seconds hand from this angle looks oddly long by a hair.

Movement looks right - wear on the movement seems to match the dial - I worry about mismatches like a completely pristine movement with a worn out dial - although the reverse of pristine dial and worn out movement is far more worrisome. Cooper foot on the back looks nice and bright too. Including that picture here for reference

My guess is that the dial is not as bad as it looks either - a new crystal would make a huge difference on this one.

I would love to own this! Price of the auction was fair in my mind - not too high, not low either.

2500626583_3.jpg
 
D
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Greetings:

I am in possession of what I think is a special Longines 13ZN. I am not a professional in this area. What are your thoughts regarding this piece. It currently does not run and when I took it to a watch repair place they told me it needs a new balance wheel. They could not place the part. I have some concerns sending it back to Longines, wondering how much that would cost!
 
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Radiumpassion
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D DNEM
............I have some concerns sending it back to Longines, wondering how much that would cost!

It will be expensive, but it will be worth it.
 
TinyClown
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Radiumpassion Radiumpassion
It will be expensive, but it will be worth it.

That is a 13ZN-12 aka Sommatore. It is the Paul Newman Daytona of Longines chronographs. I wouldn’t bother sending that watch to Longines and you have know what you’re doing not to lose $50k doing so (there’s an old story out there of Longines redialing one of these about ten years ago). It’s worth $70-80k (seventy to eighty thousand US$) as is at auction. There’s no point in spending money on service and if you don’t need the money you should hold on to it. The value will easily double in the next decade
Edited:
 
Radiumpassion
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.....but he will still have a broken watch. If I had a piece like that I would be
proud to wear it in working condition on my wrist. That being said, it needs a
new balance. Probably just a balance staff, a part that is not hard to source.
And any competent watchmaker would be able to do the job.
 
TinyClown
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Radiumpassion Radiumpassion
.....but he will still have a broken watch. If I had a piece like that I would be
proud to wear it in working condition on my wrist. That being said, it needs a
new balance. Probably just a balance staff, a part that is not hard to source.
And any competent watchmaker would be able to do the job.

This is just one guy’s opinion, but I think it’s way too valuable to wear around. I wouldn’t wear it if I owned it and to me it therefore doesn’t matter that much what condition it’s in. A dealer like Andrea Foffi or Stefano Franceschetti would give you $50k instantly and then one of them could worry about getting a new staff and (more importantly) take the risks involved. The Longines Museum is actively looking for one of these and they’d probably pay $50-60k. Any time you have someone work on it there’s a risk something might go wrong. Sending it to Longines through the Swatch Group system is risky. They could (a) lose it and (b) they treat watches rather haphazardly. They treated my unique military 13ZN like it was a $50 watch last time they handled one of my watches, lost the box, manhandled the strap etc
Edited:
 
io8194
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Beautiful watch. But it needs a service. Send it to Saint-Imier to the Heritage department.
If you want you can contact me in mp for more details.
Congrats. From my eyes it is really better than a Rolex Paul Newman...By far...
 
jljl123
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D DNEM
Greetings:

I am in possession of what I think is a special Longines 13ZN.

You do indeed have something special! Can you tell us the backstory of the watch? Where are you based out of? Maybe some fellow forum members from your area can recommend a trustworthy watchmaker to do the work.
 
io8194
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Something really special. The ‘Emperor’ of chronos and the holly grail for many collectors.
The cherry on the cake of my collection. My favorite watch by far...
 
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D
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jljl123 jljl123
You do indeed have something special! Can you tell us the backstory of the watch? Where are you based out of? Maybe some fellow forum members from your area can recommend a trustworthy watchmaker to do the work.
 
D
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Based in New York City, Queens area. The story goes, my father worked for the MTA and on his lunch breaks stopped in a local jewelry/watch maker store where his co worker had a friend. They had all old mechanical watches in boxes for parts some worked, some didn’t. 5-10-15 dollars each. This was one of many that he brought home. Stayed in his possession for 30 years in a box. My dad and I were looking in the box one day, and he gave me a few pieces including this one. Since it was not working I kept it in my boxes for another 5 years! No idea it was so special.
 
D
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io8194 io8194
Something really special. The ‘Emperor’ of chronos and the holly grail for many collectors.
The cherry on the cake of my collection. My favorite watch by far...
 
D
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TinyClown TinyClown
That is a 13ZN-12 aka Sommatore. It is the Paul Newman Daytona of Longines chronographs. I wouldn’t bother sending that watch to Longines and you have know what you’re doing not to lose $50k doing so (there’s an old story out there of Longines redialing one of these about ten years ago). It’s worth $70-80k (seventy to eighty thousand US$) as is at auction. There’s no point in spending money on service and if you don’t need the money you should hold on to it. The value will easily double in the next decade
 
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