Dear friends, I’d like to share with everyone my 2nd Longines purchase, fresh from a tumultuous rehaul service process with a new watchmaker. The quality of this Longines has dazzled me - a newcomer to watch collecting and vintage Longines. Another reason to flog the dead horse that vintage Longines brings lots of enjoyment - at almost every price point . Here are the pictures: The attention in the production of these lugs are really nice: The response from Longines Brand Heritage (does any other Swiss brand provide such a service at no charge??) Dear Mr. __, Thank you for your message and your precisions. At the origin, the serial number 6’44x’xxx identifies a stainless steel wristwatch with the reference 4983. It is fitted with a Longines manually wound mechanical movement, caliber 23M and was invoiced to Longines-Wittnauer, who was for many years our agent for the U.S.A, on the 4th March 1943. Hoping this information is convenient to you, we remain at your entire disposal for any additional request you may have. Best regards, Aurélie Tonna Brand Heritage Assistant I found this bit of information on the caliber 23M on the internet, echoed in the Italian forums, on online watch stores. For those who know more about it, please feel free to correct it: “The movement in this watch is an immaculately preserved example of the hand wound Longines calibre 23.M. Introduced in 1939, this was a revised version of calibre 23 which, in turn, was derived from the calibre 10.68Z movement that had made its debut in 1932. The 23 had been a superb movement, but Longines engineers realised that they could reduce its diameter by 1mm without affecting its remarkable performance characteristics. Additionally, the winding mechanism of the 23.M was hidden from the damaging effects of perspiration, which was particularly important as Longines sought to take advantage of the lucrative market for luxury watches in hot and humid former British colonial countries. The use of a 23.M here is unusual, as this very respected movement is typically found in gold cased watches. To suggest that its use in a steel watch is some incredible rarity would be misleading, but it’s out of the norm enough to merit brief comment...” Thank you for your time and attention, happy hunting.
The 23M is a great movement, but I've personally owned a few in steel. I'm not sure how accurate the part about them being rare is... Doesn't matter though, your watch is brilliant! What a looker. Is that the 35mm case?
Apparently height--not cost--was the impetus for the 23M to 23Z transition, at the specific request of the New York office.
Here's some pics of my most recent 23M. This is one that I really wish I could have back. I doubt I'll ever see such a nice salmon/champagne dial again with an oversized case... and lume! An astute collector in Japan picked it off... hope he's enjoying it. http://secondtimeticking.com/?product=longines-military-23m-rare-champagne-dial Interestingly, I described the 23M as built like a tank, which it seemed to me at the time. Based on Linder it sounds like I may have hit the wrong note; they describe it as relatively delicate.
woodwkr2, thanks for supplementing my limited information on this! My watch is a nice 34mm for my puny wrist. I guess the rarity of steel 23Ms was probably seller hype on the website I got it from. Now that you mention, I' remember seeing a couple of 23Ms in the "tre tacches" - stepped case and screw-back pieces. From that book of yours, 23M only gets a passing mention. "...with a height of 3mm, it is relatively delicate and costly" - Thin movements are always much more difficult to make - I think there was a craze for it in the early 50's ? I wonder if that's the reason my watchmaker struggled a little to overhaul it as well. That website of yours is nice, I've bookmarked it. Rose coloured dials are really lovely! Interesting that the U.S. was Longines' primary market in the 40's. Now the brand's core focus has become China and the rest of Asia.
I think that's true of the entirety of the Swiss watch industry. Europe/North America/Australia/Japan are basically stable, saturated markets. The prize is in the rising Chinese middle class who love expensive status symbols.