Hello community! Posting-Newbie here. I have read plenty of advice between others for a little over a year from this forum and have used that advice to secure my first couple of Omega's (a couple of late '40's Seamasters I believe I will never part with). The collection has grown to include different brands as I learned. I have been researching vintage Longines but find it difficult to determine fact from fiction. Currently two for sale on "The Bay". Both have docs from the Heritage dept at Longines that look legitimate. The watches both look legitimate but are significantly different in case dia and style; age and blued hands are similar. I am looking for advice on considerations (not valuation!). What would you do?! Thanks in advance if you make the time.

Top pic with 33.5mm case but great looking lugs IMHO:
Bottom pic with 37.5mm case with aged dial:

 

Hey there!

The top one, IMO, has had a massive polish to the point of the case looking very soft.

The bottom one, in comparison, seems to have been spared and appears to be a step case in stainless steel. Suspect is the crown, which is slightly off angle (suggesting a mangled stem/setting lever). The dial appears legit, though more experienced Longines collectors can add more.

Would you have more pictures of the 2nd one for analysis?

 

The patina on both reminds me of the new military.

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/longines-military-watch-introducing

 

I agree with you except the hoodinkee pics are a bit too "engineered" on the patina. If only history was that perfect; lol! I will agree they are nice looking pieces though. Hands are a way overdone.

 

I shouldn't say agree as I'm not sure how you feel about the new military.

 

It’s an interesting piece with the uniquely applied patina. Early reviews are positive... I’ll wait till I see one in person.

 

Not sure about the 1st one, dial looks okay, crown looks like replacement , case looks to be heavily polished

2nd one looks like a redial to me

 

Thanks for the opinion. I agree on the case polishing for the top pic. I also think the dial looks legit and am hoping to get a little more opinion on it. The larger case is gold filled I believe. Here's a better pic of the crown from the eBay posting. Doesn't look crooked from this angle. Looks like others pointed this out as the listing changed to add an additional pic of the crown.

. Ebay posting numbers are below if you are interested in more photos of either piece (sorry, I don't know how to insert a link!).


Ebay postings: 352567923182 & 292916143503.

I think I'll just monitor the auction while I wonder....

 

Thanks fbf. What tips you off on the redial?

 

I'm the seller of the 2nd watch... i won't say much other than it was discussed here in some detail when I acquired it -

https://omegaforums.net/threads/help-with-vintage-longines-circa-1941.76489/

and i'll provide a tight shot of the dial and let people come to their own conclusions on the originality -

 

I am no longines expert but the “longines” writing on the dial bothers me and the minute hand is also questionable.
My limited experience tells me the alphabet on the dial normally has similar font as the sub dial which is not the case here.
Again, I am not trying to convince you this is a “redial” rather pointing out what I see.

Longines achieve only verifies the caliber, case and year of production. It cannot verify the dial, hands etc...

 

I found this in a junk shop today along with a very nice vintage solid silver 16mm/14mm bracelet (don't see those very often). watch will need fixing..paid about 60 Euros for both!!
Any idea what calibre it is. seems to hail from 1942/43

 

Nice find. It is a caliber 23M. A component of the shock-protection and the regulator are missing but these can be sourced.

 

thanks for that!