Early longines keywind

Lépine · Feb 5, 2025

Here is in more detail what I mean when I say that this looks like the work of the same engraver. This similarity of the style of engraving and matching serial numbers to me suggests this case was matched at the Longines factory to your movement and made to order for the retailer.

Lépine · Feb 5, 2025

Here is a different engraver working at Longines.

Perdurabo · Feb 5, 2025

Lépine
Here is in more detail what I mean when I say that this looks like the work of the same engraver. This similarity of the style of engraving and matching serial numbers to me suggests this case was matched at the Longines factory to your movement and made to order for the retailer.

Wow, Seiji - you're the research expert!
Just looked at fonts, position and alignment of the serial in the case - all very much Longines-style. Guess you are perfectly right.
Thanks!
Gerd

Lépine · Feb 5, 2025

And this is interesting too. Borrowed picture for discussion purpose.

Lépine · Feb 5, 2025

Perdurabo
Wow, Seiji - you're the research expert!
Just looked at fonts, position and alignment of the serial in the case - all very much Longines-style. Guess you are perfectly right.
Thanks!
Gerd

Yes the style of the engraving is so bold and distinctive, plus the skills needed to make the engraving by hand! Not easy to copy and why bother to copy? So I would feel confident in saying this is a Longines factory engraved case made for your movement. Engraved by the same artisan that did one of my watches.

Perdurabo · Feb 5, 2025

Lépine
And this is interesting too

Let me guess: Case not made by Longines, but by a fountain pen manufacturer in the US?
Mine was born just a couple of days (hours?) before yours, but somebody slaughtered it for gold 😕

Lépine · Feb 5, 2025

Perdurabo
Let me guess: Case not made by Longines, but by a fountain pen manufacturer in the US?
Mine was born just a couple of days (hours?) before yours, but somebody slaughtered it for gold 😕

I don't have one of these with a case. There is one on eBay or at least there was one recently. Really hard to find one of these Geo Aggassi or EF Francillion versions with the case. Don't know the story behind why almost none have a case.

Anyways, the point is that the engraver is the same person again. Note the long "R". The engraver is leaving his/her DNA all over these movements and your watch case. Look at the R in Francillion on the movements and the R in your Grove

Perdurabo · Feb 5, 2025

Lépine
I don't have one of these with a case. There is one on eBay or at least there was one recently. Really hard to find one of these Geo Aggassi or EF Francillion versions with the case. Don't know the story behind why almost none have a case.

Anyways, the point is that the engraver is the same person again. Note the long "R". The engraver is leaving his/her DNA all over these movements and your watch case. Look at the R in Francillion on the movements and the R in your Grove

Yes! A post in NAWCC suggests that the 16Bs were shipped to Aikin, Lambert & Co. in New York, a fountain pen manufacturer that made 18k cases for them. Very few of those watches survived as they were scrapped for the gold. Wish I could find a complete one. Never recognized the details in the engravings!

Furby1184 · Feb 5, 2025

Lépine
Key winder Longines of any kind are not that easy to come by.

I would have figured that would make it more sought after but I can't find reasonable comparisons

Lépine · Feb 5, 2025

If you are looking for an investment, you should sell your watch and look for something in the wristwatch category. I assume you bought the pocket watch because you want a watch to experience in a limited way what life must have been like two hundred years ago when all the gentlemen wore pocket watches and road horses. Pocket watches are simply not that desireable to the majority of the people so there are far too many of them available for sale. The supply is greater than the demand and you know what that results in... Now some pocket watches are very expensive, but they also can do a whole hell of a lot more too. Any Patek super and grand complication with more functions than a Champion Swiss Army knife is going to be over a million dollars and take more than two years to have Patek make it for you. These Longines 20B and later are so plentiful and basic, $200 is likely the maximum you would ever realistically be able to sell the top 5% of the watches out there of this caliber.

Furby1184 · Feb 5, 2025

I like the fact that it's 150 years old and the key wind is awesome to me. Ill probably be spending 5-700 to have it repaired and the crystal and bezel replaced. I know I'm "throwing money away" but I've always wanted a cool old pocket watch. Thankfully I only paid $20 for it

Lépine · Feb 5, 2025

Furby1184
I like the fact that it's 150 years old and the key wind is awesome to me. Ill probably be spending 5-700 to have it repaired and the crystal and bezel replaced. I know I'm "throwing money away" but I've always wanted a cool old pocket watch. Thankfully I only paid $20 for it

Oh it's not throwing money away. You will have something special when it's done. My watch of your period is actually an amalgamation of the original watch and a donor watch. I just thought it was worth my time to restore it the best I could. I spent $500 on a watch that probably will be hard to sell for $300. I paid about $150 on a black pile of parts. Polished the case, got the glass, go the gears, go a dial of the exact type. It's a once a week watch I know I can fix if it stops working. This movement is so simple and has a huge error tolerance that it makes for a great watch to tear down and put back together. It always runs after reassembly like Lego blocks

Furby1184 · Feb 5, 2025

You make it sound easy. It's too small for me to work on personally. This is my first "real" pocket watch. I've had a cheap Colibri for years and I've always wanted an antique in a silver case. I only wear my watch out once or twice a year