Hey - thanks for taking a look. Just a brief back story here. I have been interested in vintage watches for a few years now... bought and sold a few pieces and currently have a modest collection of watches that i love. A childhood friend of mine caught the vintage bug in the last year or so. He - being an engineer - is very interested in the mechanics of the watch and has started doing some amateur watch making. I have decided i would like to learn a little about this side of watch collecting as well. we decided to pool our resources and buy some very modestly priced vintage pieces that weren't running or at least weren't running well. we figured we could learn on them and if we could actually fix them... maybe even sell them at some point in the future. anyway - one of the first pieces we bought is a vintage longines... pictures when we bought the watch were poor quality... and the watch looked quite a lot better than we suspected once it was in hand. -we believe the movement is a cal 12.68 -serial number would date the watch to 1941 or so -case measures 38mm excluding crown. -serial numbers from the inside case back and movement match. other than that we don't know a lot. we emailed longines with the serial number + a couple pics. we were wondering if we might have something special here that a couple of complete amateurs shouldn't be mucking around with. we were hoping that the collective expertise of the board may be able to provide us with some insight. thanks for taking a look. if photos from other angles would help identify the watch please just let me know and i will post them to the thread.
Nice looking, and oversize 12.68zs are desirable; but gold plated limits its collectibility and, well, value. I've not seen a paddle end on a minute hand, like that, but it could very well be original.
I think your description is accurate. Longines will give you some more details about the original sale.
I'm not convinced that the case is genuine, though Longines will certainly confirm either way. Dial and (peculiar) minute hand are also question marks, in my view. A close-up of the signature on the dial would be helpful.
Nice looking, and oversize 12.68zs are desirable; but gold plated limits its collectibility and, well, value. we suspect it is a solid gold case... there doesn't seem to be any base metal showing even where the case has had some obvious dings. we could certainly be wrong on that, though. i'll try to get a tighter shot of the signature on the dial posted later today.
thanks - appreciate the insights. hadn't noticed the seams... this is my first gold cased watch so wasn't sure what to look for. also didn't realize that a stainless back was inconsistent with a solid gold case. was judging simply by the lack of base metal showing.
just an update on this piece. after sending some pictures we've heard back from Longines: The original serial number 6'257'4xx identifies a wristwatch in plated gold bearing the reference 5015. It is fitted with a Longines manually wound mechanical movement, caliber 12.68Z and was invoiced on 11 July 1942 to the company Perret, which was at that time our agent for Brazil. does anyone know how we can learn the specs for this reference (5015)? after a quick google search i have come up with nothing. we would like to be able to confirm that the case is correct.
The chance of it being re-cased again in a gold plated case is slim. The movement spacer and fittings look correct IMO
The fact the dial fits perfectly the case size and that the archives indicate the case to be gold plated are strong indicators the case is original. It would not be so easy to find period correct replacement parts for watches that size. As for collectability, while in theory you should prefer solid metals, watches that size are quite hard to find in that era and IMHO if the price is right it would still bet a number of people would like it as it looks nice with its stepped bezel. I would indeed avoid messing around with it. Again, the ultimate decision to buy or not should be based on price and whether you genuinely like it.
Thanks for the help everyone. I am the longtime friend of raider44 (who will not be using this piece to practice any watch maintenance skills!). I received this from Longines confirming case reference 5015. They stated 37.5mm. All looks good as Syrte and Radiumpassion indicates. As a new member, I am vimpressed with the help and knowledge of the members. Also very pleased with the service from Longines regarding their historical referencing. Thanks very much!
Ok, so it seems that Robin and I have a lot more than the ‘project watch’ that we thought we were buying. We were just talking about what we should do with it... we both love the watch but neither of us are in the market to buy the other out. The likelihood seems to be that we will have a professional service the watch and get it running well and then we will sell it. Here is my question: would it be a worthwhile endeavour to send it to Switzerland to have Longines authenticate the watch? or would any potential buyer be able to authenticate it themselves?
I take it this means people are contacting you privately to offer much more than you ever thought the watch might be worth? The info you have from the archives including the picture is more than enough to "authenticate it". However be careful with scammers who might be contacting you. They have many tricks, there are dishonest professionals too. I'd advise you do nothing until you learn more and have a grasp of what you're doing. Also note trying to sell the watch here is contrary to forum policy as you should have a 200 post count unless you get an exemption. Those rules are for members' protection but people may nonetheless try to lure you with private messages. Edit /add/ How to best sell a watch outside of the forum -- the safest route to get the best price -- is a thread onto itself.