Hi, I have recently found a 18.72 PW conversion and would love to hear your thoughts about wether this is safe to wear or not (in terms of the movement).

Its a stunning watch with 44mm and that beautiful dial but I’m afraid that it might turn out pretty much worthless due to the conversion.

I‘d appreciate your opinion about this watch and perhaps how you would estimate it’s value.
Thanks
Daniel

 

In terms of whether or not the watch is safe to wear, I would imagine that the risk is similar to that of wristwatches without shock protection.

In terms of value, the demand for conversions is quite low. To most collectors, only the movement would be of value, and mostly for spare parts. I would say not much more than $200 USD.

On another note, I wonder if the case-back is authentic or fake. The serial number is early for a steel case so it is difficult to find other watches to compare it to. Below are a few examples, which are mostly later. Maybe @Modest_Proposal could comment on this?

Serial: 5'265'826


https://welwynwatchparts.co.uk/products/longines-stainless-steel-casing-calibre-37-9abc-nice

Serial: 5'317'264


https://www.blackbough.co.uk/product/longines-steel-vintage-pocket-watch-circa-1935-wwlofp/

Serial: 5'386'269


https://www.vintage-portfolio.com/shop/longines/great-longines-pocket-watch-vintage-taschenuhr/

Serial: 5'441'101


https://www.ebay.com/itm/354309928518Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

It's more commonly read: "Acier Inox, Staybrite." But sadly I am not as confident on casebacks as I should be. I really should have a photo database... with everything I've seen and held.

The rest of the case is probably not a case-conversion (with lugs added), at least. If I had to guess, the only thing original on that watch is the movement. But it's possibly the original caseback. If I looked through a good database (which I really should have), I could more closely examine the logo.

I don't think it really matter much. The stakes aren't high on this watch.

 

@Modest_Proposal Thank you for the response. I agree, the stakes are not high. I was really just curious as the logo looked off, to me.

 

I was going to say it looked a bit cruder than the examples I've seen. But I don't want to be the fool who is shown an identical logo.