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But... I'm a Lady... The Emily Howard gift project

  1. LesXL Aug 27, 2021

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    Last week, some of you might have noticed that a lady's Longines watch popped up on our excellent Private Watch Sales sub-forum.

    Ms @Syrte, having great taste and flair, quickly noticed it... And, she was kind enough to give me priority so I could buy it (encore merci!)... Well, because, "I'm a Lady, you see..." as the great Emily Howard would say :)

    Rather because, as I had mention on the sale thread, I'd like to gift the watch to my niece who is also my goddaughter. Florence is a lovely young lady now 20 years of age, who I love dearly, and with whom I am lucky to have much caring relationship.

    A few months ago, during one of long walk together (as ther was nothing else to do during the lock downs), she seemed interested on the "vintage" watch I was wearing that day. We ended having a great discussion about watches, showing her some pictures of my small collections,as well as, some of the WRUW section pictures too.

    Since then, on a few occasion, she has mentioned that she might be interested on a "vintage" watch for herself...

    So, one of the main reasons I wanted the watch, for sale last week, was that she had previously seen my Longines Sei Tacche. And she had actually quite liked it... But I told... "honey, I don't like you quite that much yet", as she can successfully charm her way sometimes for me to give her what is mine! Obviously, when I saw a similar lady version for sale, I immediately thought it'd be cool to both have the "same" watches. And most importantly, I'm keeping mine!!!

    Which brings us to the story of this thread, as I have just received yesterday the watch, and I'm very pleased! Now, I got 2 weeks before Florence comes to visit me (she lives in Switzerland) to get everything ready!

    First, here is the watch with the bracelet:
    IMG_20210827_140643.jpg
    Here it is next to my watch (that Im' keeping!!):
    IMG_20210827_140831.jpg
    IMG_20210827_141256.jpg

    Though she is very slim, I still believe the bracelet will be too small for her wrist, so I've removed it as it can't be adjusted at all.

    IMG_20210827_142906.jpg IMG_20210827_142933.jpg IMG_20210827_143241.jpg IMG_20210827_143336.jpg

    So now, the watch is going tomorrow to my watchmaker as it is indeed not keeping time, losing a few hours as it was mentioned on the sale post. No surprised there! Hopefully, it shouldn't be too much of an issue to have it serviced.

    Here is a picture of the movement and case back. Both case back and lug have the same 300 number which is good to see:

    IMG_20210827_160625.jpg
    IMG_20210827_172822~2.jpg IMG_20210827_172934.jpg

    If anybody would be able to share some information on the caliber, I'd be grateful as I can't read any caliber reference. Looks like a 8LN, but shouldn't it be engraved under the Longines reference number?

    In addition, I have just sent a request for information to Longines, hoping I can get a bit of history of the watch I'd be able to share with her. From the serial number, and guessing there are no differences between Gents and Ladies ones, the watch seems to have been from ca. 1944.

    Next step will be to find a nice leather strap! As you can see, the pins are welded, and based on my measurements, they are 13mm size.

    That will probably be the tricky part I guess... well, I think I'll have to go custom-made for this, and the challenge will be to have it ready in 2 weeks time. Again, if anyone would have any suggestions, I'd appreciate it!

    Voilà, first update on the gift preparation! I'm really excited about it, and will report back once I get more inputs :)

    Thank you all for reading!
     
  2. connieseamaster Aug 27, 2021

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    There are 13mm straps for fixed lug watches on eBay, not great quality, but they exist. Another idea would be a clip on bracelet, which was common for watches of this period. Tonysaw123 on eBay has a large stock of them
     
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  3. rcs914 Aug 27, 2021

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    $35 SHIPPED??! Wow that is a great deal, even with needing a service and needing to track down a strap.

    I'm sure she will love it!
     
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  4. Dan S Aug 27, 2021

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    Very nice gift. You will very likely hear from Longines with information about the movement and the delivery date and location, within a few days by email. If you request it, they will follow up with a paper certificate by mail. Free of charge.

    I also noted some open-ended 13mm straps on eBay. In particular, the Hirsch straps with ends that are glued in place, are pretty good. That would be my choice.

    The fact that the watch has a screw-back is nice, since the watch is likely to have at least some minimal water-resistance. You will probably want to mention that she should still avoid water to the extent possible. And obviously the movement is not shock protected, so she should be aware of that.

    The engravings on the back are intriguing. They look almost like initials and birthdays.
     
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  5. Jones in LA Isofrane hoarder. Aug 27, 2021

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    That's a lovely story, and watch! Looking forward to seeing it after service and with strap, maybe even the moment of presentation :)
     
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  6. Syrte MWR Tech Support Dept Aug 27, 2021

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    It’s a really nice watch, congrats on it— she’s lucky I have a tender heart (and a very similar watch) because I was quite tempted.
    I’ll happily buy the bracelet back from you if it can accommodate a 12.5/ 13cm wrist -
    And I can even provide via pm some contact info for a craftsman who can make a perfect strap for it.
     
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  7. LesXL Aug 27, 2021

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    Sûrement pas payer! Je mesure la longueur du bracelet demain, et j'en prend des photos pour t'envoyer.

    Et je suis preneur des suggestions pour le bracelet en cuir.

    I thought about you as I had seen your long leather strap... Blue or purple one? I have in mind it was custom-made :)
     
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  8. Syrte MWR Tech Support Dept Aug 27, 2021

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    Thanks @LesXL, I sent you a pm. The movement by the way is an 8.68, either 8.68Z or 8.68ABC - the latter has a slightly shorter balance staff among other variants. The 8LN is the American market version and the caliber number could be marked underneath the balance wheel.
     
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  9. SkunkPrince Aug 27, 2021

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    When you say "13mm" you really mean 1/2". I have one from the period if you're interested, PM me.
     
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  10. LesXL Aug 28, 2021

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    Thank you for the Hirsch suggestion, I'm looking into it. You are right on reminding her about the fact it is not a modern watch, so she'll have to be careful when necessary.

    On the engraving, I was wondering what to do with it... Should it be my watch, I'd surely keep it the way it is, but not sure how she will feel with an RIP engraving on her wrist ::confused2::

    I shall update this thread whenever I get more pictures, and of course, there will be wrist shots ::psy:::thumbsup:

    Thanks, man! I'm having a look at it right now, and he does have a large selection! Great to keep it in the favourite :)

    She'd better do indeed... Otherwise, she goes in the rotten child category :whipped:

    Thanks for the information on the movement, coming from the "other side of the pond", I thought it might have an American market version. This thing is so tiny that I can't really see under the balance wheel, and my phone is not great at macro to be able to read it on pictures. I'll ask my watchmaker to tell me more... I'll actually ask him to make pictures during the servicing so she can see what it involves ;)

    Most of the time, I don't understand myself talking, so if you say so, then yes... Though I only talk metric (as everybody should) :cool:
    I'll PM you!
     
    Edited Aug 28, 2021
  11. Dan S Aug 28, 2021

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    Oh, I didn't interpret the RIP that way given the presence of two engravings, but maybe you are right. So it says RIP with a date in 1957 and then PPP with a date in 1961? What is that about do you think?

    The engraving is shallow enough to be removed, but skimming the back (sanding or turning it down on a lathe) will make the batch and case number engravings much more shallow, which is not desirable. Laser welding could be used to build up the material around the custom engravings, and then perhaps the back could be refinished without losing much of the Longines engravings. But it's a bit tricky, and you would need to make sure the person doing the work really understands what you are requesting.
     
  12. LesXL Aug 28, 2021

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    It is an intriguing engraving... RIP seems obvious what it stands for, but PPP?

    I Googled it, but I doubt it intended to mean Purchasing Power Parity as engraving...nor this haha

    I think I will just leave it like this as part of the vintage experience :)
     
  13. LesXL Sep 8, 2021

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    Hello all, just thought to give you a small update on how things are moving forward.

    First, my watchmaker did his magic and the watch was serviced last week. So, it is now running nicely. And, movement is a caliber 8.68ABC
    IMG-20210830-WA0010.jpg IMG-20210830-WA0009.jpg

    As for the strap, a friend of mine is actually a leathercrafter/leatherworker, and is helping to make a custom strap. We decide to go with a camel / light brown colour for it... She is still working on it, here are some ideas
    IMG-20210906-WA0002.jpg IMG-20210906-WA0000.jpg

    WIP...

    Finally, I've written to Longines to get some information on the watch itself, and their feedback is quite interesting. The watch was invoice to Cuervos y Sobrinos in Cuba on 15 November 1945! I find it quite cool actually, and hope she will too hahaha
    Screenshot_20210908-123159_Email~2.png

    There goes... that's all for the moment :)

    Thanks for reading!
     
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  14. BlueHands Sep 8, 2021

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    Beautiful little watch and interesting invoice to Cuba. Hope your niece will enjoy it for a long time.
     
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  15. Syrte MWR Tech Support Dept Sep 8, 2021

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  16. LesXL Sep 8, 2021

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    Wow ... that's crazy haha ... They are almost identical except the hands lume.

    15 of November 1945 seemed to have been a good day at Cuervos y Sobrinos! People were maybe preparing their gifts for christmas :)
     
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  17. Syrte MWR Tech Support Dept Sep 8, 2021

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    I told you I had a very similar one :)
    What’s crazy also is how one ended up in central France, which is where mine was in 2015, and one presumably in the US.
     
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  18. LesXL Sep 12, 2021

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    Vintage watches need GPS tracking to see how much they have seen in their lives :)
     
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  19. LesXL Sep 12, 2021

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    Custom strap is done just on time... I just pick it up at noon, the baby is arriving at 14h !!

    I think I'm enjoying more this probably more than she will enjoy the watch ... I think she will be happy, and she will certainly appreciate the gesture and effort.

    IMG_20210912_132217.jpg IMG_20210912_132302.jpg
     
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  20. LesXL Sep 17, 2021

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    So, the final chapter...

    My niece/Goddaughter was in town this week, and she came to stay over for a day to spend some time together. As she successfully pass her first year at University, it was the perfect opportunity to give her the watch :)

    We prepared dinner all together, had a first cocktail (Cosmopolitan!), and when came time for the second apéro, I gave her the gift box.
    received_549728396333675.jpg
    received_545261006534894.jpg

    I must say, I was very very happy to see that she LOVED/S (her own word, in uppercase!) the watch, and the fact we now have matching watches !!
    IMG_20210912_210329.jpg IMG_20210912_210332.jpg
    I also gave her the response received from Longines re. the provenance of her watch, that she found was... soooo cool!!

    She actually loved the double strap too as it fits her very thin wrist perfectly! Ensued a long discussion about the watch itself, the small project, how she should now take care of it etc etc

    She keep on looking at it on and off during the whole evening... admiring it :)

    All in all, we had a very lovely evening together.

    We had a nice breakfast the next day, with again another series of wrist shots and coffee !!
    IMG_20210913_094118.jpg IMG_20210913_094114.jpg IMG_20210913_094153.jpg IMG_20210913_094201.jpg IMG_20210913_102946.jpg

    She is today on the plane back to Switzerland and, of course, I got my WRUW picture of the day from her :)
    received_1707139049675590.jpg

    So, there goes... That is the happy ending of this story !!

    I'd like to thank specifically @imfagent449 for the smooth transaction and prompt delivery, and @Syrte for giving me priority to buy the watch and all her advises regarding the strap choices. Obviously all of you who have provided me with great suggestions (@SkunkPrince, I sent her the picture of your suggestion, and she will get back to me on it) and comments and support in this thread.

    I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did, writing it.
     
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