As promised before in an other thread, I just want to bring (the few) informations I´ve found / got together as there is nearly nothing to find about Longines "diso volante" watches. Prolog: The early "flying saucer" or in italian "disco volante" watches are mostly known from Omega and Audemars Piguet. Both big in size (Omega around 38mm, AP around 35mm) and very desireable. Here a pic from a Omega sold via Hodinkee and an AP auctioned at Phillips. So when I saw a blurry pic of a Longines "disco volante" for sale online, I didn´t think twice but bought it in a rush. No idea of the size and the condition of the movement. Might have been a super small ladies watch with a rotten movement, but who cares about these insignificant details. So when the parcel arrived it turns out even better. The triple stepped case has a diameter around 33mm and is looking fantastic. The blued hands and the dial are all original too. When opened by my watchmaker we found a cal 10.68z decorated with geneva stripes. The internal order number in the case back is 1924, the batch number 27. So during service at my watchmaker I contacted Longines for an extract. The answer arrived pretty soon. "The serial number 5'749'643 originally marked a stainless steel watch with the reference 4157. It is equipped with a mechanical hand-wound Longines movement, the caliber 10.68Z. It was invoiced on 23.5.1940 to the company Ewald Narath in Frankfurt a / M., then our agent for Germany." Asking here at OF about Longines "disco volante" two similar examples from @yako54 and @Modest_Proposal popped up. Both with order number 1957 and a slightly different case design. Epilogue As I couldn´t find any more material about the watch I decided to contact Mr. Goldberger. I asked him if he had further information about Longines "disco volante" and maybe some pics to share via Instagram. He came back very quick, but doesn´t have a Longines "disco volante" in his incredible collection or further information. But he emphasized that these disco volantes are "very rare!". And I have to add that those have "a superb watch design"!
Very big congrats for jumping on the blurry watch..... and dibs to reiterate - even though I'm not holding my breath. (Which is best because I am utterly and completely dibsed out).
When I read the name of this watch it reminded me of the villain’s boat in the James Bond movie ”Thunderball”
Digging up this wonderful thread regarding the really rare Longines Disco Volantes that are known so far. As a supplement here's the before announced Ref. 4304, sold to Poland End 1938. It is so simple an pure with the unusual black dial, the gilt numerals and the tender golden handset. The slim bezel makes the watch look bigger than the 32,5mm suggests. As decribed before, the 13mm (!) strap is hidden under the case with fix lugs.The case is sharp and unpolished, the crown original. Inside is the beautiful caliber 10.40 with geneva stripes. The wonderful Longines archive was so kind to send the information they have concerning this reference within an hour I had asked, that's really remarkable. They sent this little archive extract, which shows exact this case and another dial design. And yes, more of these beauties should pop up.
There was a recent thread positing: Omega should be more like Rolex. Regarding EoA, perhaps they should be more like Longines.
Here's another one: Ref. 4297, 32 mm, 10.68Z, bezel slightly different to ref. 4304. This one was sold in 1939 to Kohn, Prague. A pity I missed it...
Yeah, it has the same order number and invoice as mine and the movements are 40 digits apart, really crazy to think about how these watches have been survived the war and been saved all those decades.