Is the movement correct?

konung39

I looked at other watches on the Internet with the same dial, or with the same number fonts - they all have markup and fonts are quite crooked. Perhaps they were made in the USA, and the technology and production run there were not the same as in Switzerland. By the way, the color of the phosphor is different everywhere, but it is on dials with such fonts (presumably made in the USA) that it has been preserved everywhere.
But for me it is important only for research purposes, I am waiting for the watch strap I ordered, I will wear it.

Maybe longines heritage will respond, but they haven't written anything yet, and their extended statement now costs 1,200 francs.

Waltesefalcon

I can't say for certain on the Longines, but that Hamilton is an obvious redial. The script is all wrong, every letter should have serifs. The 'A' and 'M' are a later style mixed in with period correct letters with serifs. Here is one of my Piping Rocks with the correct script.

As far as the US having inferior technology in watch factories to the Swiss in the 1920s and 30s is laughable. Hamilton and Illinois both made watches that were superior to pretty much anything the Swiss could produce.

I agree that this is a watch too be worn. My experience with Longines since they eliminated the free archive extracts is that they won't say anything without being paid. Which is unfortunate because they used to be so incredibly helpful.

Waltesefalcon

I wish the first watch in the post didn't have the glare in the photo. To me this dial looks original. Notice how consistent the lines are in the minute and seconds tracks.

The second watch has a better photo and in this one we can clearly see just how consistent Longines print should be on an original dial. The only thing I see wrong with this watch is that the movement isn't centered in the watch which makes me wonder if there is any damage or excessive wear on the case back where the mov't is retained.

Like I mentioned before this Hamilton is an obviously refinished dial, where the refinisher made a mistake with the script. You can also see inconsistencies in the squiggly border lines and in the minute track. On the squiggly line look along the top of it and you can see several places where it's poorly done. On the minute track look under the 5 and you can see where it looks like the refinisher was using a stencil and the track didn't quite like up creating almost a double line. you can also notice that the corner between the 4 and 5 has little tails radiating outward, wheras the other three corners are crisp. This refinisher did a good job with the thickness of the lines for the minutes on the thin lines but when you look at the thick lines there are a couple that bulge a bit.

This last Longines we can't say much about because of the angle.

Waltesefalcon

Your mov't doesn't press into the caseback?

Waltesefalcon

My experience with Longines since they eliminated the free archive extracts is that they won't say anything without being paid. Which is unfortunate because they used to be so incredibly helpful.

We thank you for contacting us and for your interest in Longines watches.

Your watch is a national production, which means the movement and dial were swiss made, but destined to be fitted on an locally-made case upon delivery to Longines' american agent, the Wittnauer company.

Our registers describe a silver dial with radium indexes and the inscription "Longines".

Only an analysis of the watch by our watchmakers in our Workshops in Saint-Imier, Switzerland could allow us to establish with certainty wether the dial has been repainted or not.

We hope this information will be of interest to you and remain at your entire disposal for any further information you may need.

Waltesefalcon

Your mov't doesn't press into the caseback?

gatorcpa

It was not unusual for US market watches, even those with US made cases, to have Swiss made dials. So the Stern stamp is no surprise. Silver dials were also common for better watches in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

The refinished dial looks like the work of International Dial. They made dials for Hamilton among other American watch companies back then. They were in business until only a few years ago. International had original dies for many watch companies dating back to the 1800’s.

That type of finish was used by Hamilton and Illinois and was called “Baker” finish. The odd thing is that many Hamilton and Illinois collectors will pay more for proper redials. A Baker finish on a Longines isn’t correct, but this example still looks very nice and was well bought at under $100.

Hope this helps,
gatorcpa