I have a 1956 Longines 19A Automatic that, according to the Longines archive, has a Swiss-made movement but a dial, case, etc. "produced locally (in the U.S.) under license from Longines" in the U.S. Does anyone have any ideas who might have had that kind of relationship with Longines at the time? Ever get something similar from Saint-Imier? Thanks!
Hello @funkag and welcome to the forum! If you're interested you can read a potted history of Wittnauer and their long relationship with Longines here: https://largevintagewatches.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-history-of-wittnauer-watch-brand.html Longines-Wittnauer were prolific advertisers (in Life Magazine, among others) during the 1950s and 60s so if you're lucky and diligent, you may even find your watch in an old advertisement...
Wittnauer was originally Longines' agent (importer) in the US, and they became, in a roundabout way, Longines' sister branch for the North American market. However, despite what I've read in other places, I don't believe Wittnauer ever owned or merged officially with Longines. They were two separate companies. Most Longines watches sold in the US during the 1950s-1970s started as movements (and other components) imported from Switzerland, and then they were cased and timed in the US by Wittnauer. To my knowledge, Wittnauer didn't manufacture their own cases, but farmed that out to other American watch case manufactures. Wittnauer also used unique model and collection names for Longines watches, that were different from the catalogues for Longines in Europe. There are likely many models that were unique to the US market as they were being assembled by Wittnauer.
This is definitely a US market Longines that was cased and timed by Wittnauer. The watch case was by made the Star Watch Case Co. of Michigan. In my opinion, they made some of the finest, if not the finest, wrist watch cases in the USA. Hamilton, Longines, LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, Wittnauer and many others used their cases for their watches.
This is getting very confusing.... Longines is a watch manufacturer in Switzerland. Wittnauer is a watch manufacturer in Switzerland. Longines-Wittnauer Watch Co. Inc was an US corporation that imported Swiss watches, created case styles (most made by contractors in the US), cased and timed movements and sold watches wholesale to jewelers and department stores in the US and Canada. It was founded originally by members of the Wittnauer family, but by the 1950’s, most had passed away or retired. The watch case says it all. gatorcpa
Now I just need all of you to help me convince my wife that since I have an "American" Longines watch I thus need a matching "Swiss" Longines watch to go with it!!
Some Swiss cased and timed Longines were sold by Longines-Wittnauer Co. in the US. They tended to be at the lower end (steel cases had very little customs charged) and at the high end (the profit on these would be sufficient to absorb the customs). The ones in the middle tended to have the US made cases. In some European countries they could not sell gold-filled or 14K gold cased watches and use the word “gold” in their advertising. Hope this helps, gatorcpa