Greetings everyone, 1/ So far I don't think I've seen a single rectangular shaped, 1930s art deco Longines watch on sale with a proper dial. Would there have been more redials on those shapes? 2/ This one looks interesting. The listing says it's "Société Française des Montres Longines", a subsidiary established to market watches in Brazil and Uruguay. The dial would look pretty good if it weren't for the subdial. Could one imagine dials were poorer quality if made for Longines sub -brands, or would the dials be made by the same process with same quality? Clearly that photo is not large enough to get very close. http://www.ebay.fr/itm/391402571080?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network Best regards, S
This one has been on eBay forever. I am not certain about its link to Longines but the movement was not produced by them. I have seen a few nice rectangular Longines sell in the past year but they seem to be far less common. I am not certain about the frequency of redials though. The dial should be of the same quality in most cases. It is my understanding that co-branded dials either come from the factory as such, or only the retailers name is printed subsequently and therefore of lesser quality. Edit: The dial will not necessarily be of the same quality if we are talking subsidiary brands. It is difficult to make generalizations but subsidiary brands often produce more affordable watches. These may feature dials of lesser quality in order to keep the cost low.
A distinction should be made between co-branded and subsidiary brand. A co-branded watch is usually a regular watch with a retailer's name on the dial (e.g. Tiffany & Co. on a Patek). A subsidiary brand is simply an offshoot of the main brand (e.g. Tudor to Rolex). The degree to which a subsidiary is related to the main brand varies greatly. Another possibility is watches made specifically for a retailer (e.g. Longines for Tiffany & Co.). These are similar to co-branded watches but the dials are devoid of the manufacturer's name. Retailers often specified other details as well. There are also names like West End Watch Co. and Rose Watch Co.. One function of these companies was to distribute watches in certain countries. West End Watch Co. distributed Longines in India and Rose Watch Co. distributed Heuer in the United States. In the case of West End Watch Co., the watches often featured entirely different components such as cases by Taubert. In my opinion, the watch above is not really a Longines. The movement was not made by Longines and it does not possess a Longines serial number.