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Beware: Problem Longines watches

gatorcpa
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Some later chronometers did not come with the special gold-plated rotor. No, it is not solid gold -- I asked the Longines Museum about that.

Caseback looks correct to me. The serial numbers of the caseback and movement are not supposed to match on these.

However, the dial is a very amateur effort at a redial.

Awful look to it.
gatorcpa

PS - You want an Ultra Chron that's worth the money? Look at this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/14-k-gold-longines-automatic/302451996868

A bargain at the starting bid and no one seems to be beating down the door on this 14K solid gold version.
Edited:
 
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plowjockey
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Thanks gatorcpa, I didn't know the later ones didn't have the gold plate on the rotor edge, learn something new every day. The one you linked to is nice.
 
omg smstr
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I have an Ultra-Chron chronometer that have a SN higher by 700 digit.
It has the same case back and a gold plated rotor.
I believe that chronometer was added by the redialer to improve the resale value.

The good thing with Longines is that as they usually answer quickly on extract of archive request. So it is sometimes possible to check an Ebay sale before the auction is finished.

For Ultra-Chron Chronometer, the best place is Yahoo Japan, they are always few available and they can be had for far less than 500$.
 
Syrte
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Too bad this beauty's a redial.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LONGINES-C...378930?hash=item36242109b2:g:iW4AAOSwXPNZ7g~Q
s-l1600.jpg
 
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gatorcpa
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Syrte Syrte
Falsely described as military:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-S...634885?hash=item2a97657405:g:CpMAAOSwWGlZwwBE
Seconds hand is not original. Paint in the "60" on the bezel should be red, not black.

The information in the listing is correct I believe, but there is no proof that this example is one of the purchased watches mentioned.

I've never heard of any military issued watch in gold-plate.
gatorcpa
 
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Syrte
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gatorcpa gatorcpa
Seconds hand is not original. Paint in the "60" on the bezel should be red, not black.

The information in the listing is correct I believe, but there is no proof that this example is one of the purchased watches mentioned.

I've never heard of any military issued watch in gold-plate.
gatorcpa

That's interesting, first time I hear about unissued Weems being purchased by the US military.
Is that what you're saying is correct in the listing?
 
Syrte
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gatorcpa gatorcpa
Yes. I think I read that on a website somewhere.

http://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/990103944/m/2901075381

This makes some sense, as Lt. Comm. Weems was a retired naval officer prior to WWII. He un-retired (at the age of 52!) when the US entered that war and was even promoted before retiring a second time.
gatorcpa

Er, that is a very early thread (2006), with a lot of speculation at a time much less information was known on those watches.
One person in the thread is apparently speculating some of the small Weems with crown at 2:00 may have been used as non issued watches in the US military. He is offering no documentary or other evidence, is contradicted by a former US service member, and ends up recognizing those small Weems are "mostly civilian purchase only" with some "civilian purchase for use by a military pilot."

Short of any evidence, to me this is another case of wishful thinking by someone who'd like to call his civilian watch military.
It is telling the last contribution from someone who's a top expert does not discuss the purported govt use of civilian watches.
AFAIK it stills sums up pretty much what's known today about the "military use" of small Weems with crown at 2:00 (about 5 examples altogether, issued in 1940 with markings at the back, before the proper A11 hack (spec. 94-27834) were introduced in ~1941-42" at which point the Weems system became obsolete.)
 
michael22
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The dead giveaway being that the serial numbers don't match, from case to movt.?

Would it be fair to say the dial was slightly too large for the old case, & "swiss made" is too obscured?
 
Syrte
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michael22 michael22
The dead giveaway being that the serial numbers don't match, from case to movt.?

Would it be fair to say the dial was slightly too large for the old case, & "swiss made" is too obscured?
That is correct, except it’s uncertain there is a « Swiss made » mark.
 
Mr.Cairo
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Syrte Syrte
That is correct, except it’s uncertain there is a « Swiss made » mark.

Indeed, from my limited experience with Longines from that period, most swiss made marks were even uncommon in the 50s, and even then usually it said just SWISS if anything at all
 
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