Hello Everyone

I am trying to help a friend's stepfather identify this long kept family gift.

Allegedly it has spent the last 60 or so years in a safe, being worn only once. It was a gift from his parent, but he doesnt know anything about it besides it being a gold watch.

I had the chance to take the pictures, its manual wound and something in the 34-36 mm case size.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks!

 

Well, it's certainly an original dial and a nice watch. The case is aftermarket, probably South American. The hallmarks on the outside are the dead giveaway that it isn't a Swiss made case by Longines. Most times, stainless watches were sent to SA, and then the dial, movement, and hands were installed into locally made solid gold cases. What makes me nearly 100% sure of this is the period correct (late 50's / 1960's) and probably original stainless steel Longines buckle. If the watch had come from Longines in Switzerland in that case, that buckle would at least be gold plated, or solid gold, in the same color as the case. Anyway, the buckle alone is worth at least $50 and probably closer to $80-$100. Nice that it has the box. Odds are, in order of most likely to least likely, that it's powered by a 30L, 23Z, 12.68, 28x, or 370 caliber.

 

Thanks for your quick answer!

I am in south america, so kudos in that...

I was also curious about the bucle being SS, also you can read at the back of the case "Oro 18k" (gold 18k), your answer seems more than legit to me.

Honestly I think I will take your information to the grave, I dont want to destroy the sentimental value of the watch...

Thanks a lot again!

 

style and the narrowness of the crown suggest 50's, nice watch though

 

New to the forum, so a few days late. Found this site looking for more discussion of vintage Longines. I have a very similar dial to this and know of another exactly like this, both Italian-cased. Both cased by Binda, who apparently played a similar role to Longines/Wittnauer here in the US. Got this info from Longines themselves with their excellent information service regarding their vintage watches. Will see if I can attach a pic of my watch, but since first time on forum, may have issues (I'm kind of stupid tech-wise, hence why nearly all my watches are 50-70 year old hand-winds). Mine is Stainless with a 30L inside, and the other watch was yellow 18K with a 30L. Not sure why my photos so ginormous, but amazing I actually was able to download them without crashing something on my end !

 

The recase colour seems to match that of the hands and dial furniture nicely. That's not always the badumtss case.