Interesting seeing Longines on the chronometer certificate thread

Is anyone else following the chronometer certificate thread here:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/chronometer-certification-1948-1956.112643/

Of course, this would be before the 30L and so I assume that the wristwatches that are being certified are likely to be 12.68z (or the same movement with a different name).

What I find most interesting is the difference in the comparative number of Rolex, Omega and Longines watches certified. Rolex is certainly ahead, followed by Omega. Longines is barely represented. Given the construction of the movements, I expect that Longines watches cost more than their Rolex or Omega equivalents. Also, I believe Longines produced fewer watches.

The question I have is - why didn't Longines certify more chronometers? I expect that the answer has to to with whether they thought it was important in the mind of their customers. Those looking at JLC master control watches today probably think it irrelevant whether it is chronometer certified - we know it will tell good time over a long time. I wonder if it was the same back then.

There is a great thread that discusses Longines chronometers at length: https://omegaforums.net/threads/lady-luck-delivers-an-early-longines-chronometre.11157/

It's an interesting read. The question of why Longines didn't certify, sell or advertise many chronometers comes up in the thread. Along with why companies like Patek, JLC, IWC etc. also didn't focus on chronometers. The consensus, and others can correct me if I'm wrong, is they they felt their watches didn't need the extra chronometer certification, even though their watches probably met the standard, to demonstrate their superlative quality. I imagine for companies like Rolex, Omega, Zenith etc. that heavily focused on chronometers relied on that for advertising and Longines felt they didn't need that to demonstrate their quality to consumers.

@SportChief - thank you.

Very, very interesting.

Thanks for the reminder that I needed to finish that thread, @imfagent449. All of the data through 1956 is now uploaded. It seems that after this period they stopped publishing the numbers publicly.

It wouldn’t have been just the 12.68z/12L, although I would be surprised if that particular movement isn’t represented in the data. I suspect the 1956 numbers are capturing the first batch of 30Ls that were certified. Other potential movements (not an exhaustive list) that could be represented in the data during this time frame are the 10.68z/10L, 27.0/27M, 22AS, 23M/23Z, 25.17/9L and the 15.68z/14.68z.

@Rumar89 - thank you for posting the rest. What a dramatic rise in the number of certified wristwatches over that time period.

By 1956 it must have been clear for many companies whether it made sense to certify watches - the numbers for Omega and Rolex are very large compared to other companies.

My suspicion, at least regarding Longines, was that until the 30L was introduced chronometer certified watches were essentially special orders by ADs/Jewelry stores when requested by customers. Hence the low production volumes.

Based on the data in the thread, Longines wristwatch chronometer production by year in 1948-1956 is below:

1948: 0
1949: 6
1950: 72 (including 6 automatics) - I believe these automatics must be 22AS’?
1951: 5
1952: 14
1953: 10 - Of these 10, I know 4 are 22AS’ (9123476, 9123406, 9123407 & 9123444)
1954: 7
1955: 73 - Of these, I know 4 are 27.OS (9784403, 9784423, 9784467, 9784484)
1956: 447 - Fairly certain the majority of these are 30Ls, which was introduced in 1956-1957 and was the first widely marketed chronometer from Longines. It seems that chronometer production of this movement essentially ceased by 1960.

I think it is interesting that production spiked in 1950 and 1955. Did Longines submit bulk batches in 5 year increments with small annual allotments to ensure they had some stock on hand?

Regardless, over this timeframe, Longines produced 634 chronometers. If we exclude the spike in 1956 (which is easily explained by the introduction of the 30L) total production over the remaining 8 years was 187 chronometer movements. For comparison, below are the certification numbers for some other manufacturers:

Zenith: 7625
Movado: 1035
Vacheron: 806

Wow, non 30L chronometers were really, really rare, even compared to other companies.