Hey all,


I recently was gifted my great grandfathers Longines watch. I never met him, but my grandma wore it after he died and she recently gave it to me. It is absolutely gorgeous and I’m lucky to have the opportunity to add it to my collection.


I’m having a hard time identifying the reference / year of the watch. It’s an admiral as seen on the dial. It’s about 34mm case size, and as seen in my attached photos says “1260” on the back. Between the lugs it’s stamped with “14 kt gold” so I believe it’s solid gold as opposed to gold filled. When I search for Longines admiral 1260, many different watches come up with only one looking like this one.


Anyone able to identify this piece based on the description and photos?


Further, I’d love to get the community’s take on servicing / restoration. I’m certain my grandma hasn’t had it serviced and knowing my age and knowing that I never met my great grandfather, I’m going to assume the earliest it would’ve been serviced would be at least 40-50 years ago. However, it runs and I haven’t noticed any glaring issues. I’m not sure the movements original power reserve but it can certainly go about a day between wear and keep time.


Cosmetically, I used my pegwood and took some rodico to it to clean it up a bit, but the case could definitely use some deeper cleaning. I’m torn on what to do with the crystal. Sometimes I think the scratches and cloudiness are really sweet, other times I wonder how gorgeous it would look with a new or polished crystal. Any thoughts on this/other cosmetic thoughts if I do go ahead and bring it to a watchmaker?


Thanks all for your feedback - please see below for some photos!

 

Lovely. I will leave it to the deep knowledge but to me it looks great. I’d take this to my watchmaker for movement Service only ….$250-300 usd.

 

I agree with @Larry S. Looks great. Get it serviced. The cost may be a bit more if parts are needed. The gold case has nice sharp edges. I would ask that the case not be polished as it will take away all those beautiful edges. The crystal can be polished at the time of service, but you can also do it with Polywatch.

 

If you have a watchmaker remove the movement, and take photos of the movement serial number and number inside the case, you can send them to Longines through their website, and request a complimentary extract of their archives. They will give you the reference, batch number (if applicable), and date and location of delivery.

 

oh don’t worry, no intention to polish the case! More just the crystal that I’m wondering about. I think I might have that polished up a bit, or like you said take some polywatch to it. But definitely don’t want the gold case polished.

 

Thank you - I have heard about this process. I guess that’s the only surefire way to get an idea for the age and reference

 

Looks great.

As has been said, I’d get it serviced. In the UK I’d expect to pay £130-£150.

If the crystal irks you, then a new generic crystal would cost about £10 and your watch servicer could deal with that but as @wagudc suggests, try Polywatch or similar.

For the case I’d just use a soft jewellers polishing cloth.

 

Longines does a wonderful job with extracts. Well worth it.

 

One thing I love with those vintage pieces is how their surface area ia almost completely dial. Combined with the domed plexi, it means the crystal takes most of the beating(easily remedied with Polywatch or a replacement).

As for 1260, I believe it's not the reference number but rather the wrench size needed to open the one-piece case(also possible by injecting compressed air via the crown tube)

That caseback engraving is beautiful. Congratulations!

PS: based on the style, I'd bet there's a caliber 34x automatic hidden in there.

 

Really lovely watch, and great heirdom to enjoy!

As others have recommended, a movement service, check the crystal if a light polish is needed, and then wear it in good health!

 

Thank you for your thoughts! The caseback really is gorgeous. It was quite gunked up but a little pegwood cleaning went a long way! I think the whole case could use a wash in a super sonic cleaner or similar and it’ll really shine up while staying unpolished.