Longines 3T(Tre Tacche) coming up on Phillips HK - BEWARE

First, the photos.




"""
Movement No 5’539’287
Case No 1’660, further stamped 67

Delivered with Longines Extract from the Archives dated 28th November 2019,
confirming the present watch was sold on 3rd December 1937 to the company Ostersetzer, Longines’ agent for Italy.
"""

Unfortunately, Longines Archives confirmed this watch originally came with WHITE Dial.

Although I believe this dial is possibly a correct configuration for a 35mm 3T, this is another one of those frankens or whatever you may call it, very common in Longines 3T's.
Also, the dial condition is very poor as well, and damage marks around the edge of the dial suggest this dial originally came in a smaller watch, and was swapped later on.

Below is a capture of the email from Longines heritage department.
====================================================

Information is very important. Thank you for providing all of this. This is beneficial for longines' fans to make the right choice.

Why would they not include that info with the extract???

Longines' archive dept has continually unearthed new information as they find more records. The physical archive cert was probably issued before they had the dial color information.

The information likely existed in the records when the pictured extract was issued, but it is only in the last year or so that Longines has ceased issuing extracts for watches with current appearances that do not match the written descriptions in the archive. The pictured extract, being of the older style, was issued before this changeover and under the old rules. At any rate, neither old nor new-style extract typically includes detail on dial configuration unless there is some particularly noteworthy surviving dial characteristic noted in the archive that they deem worthy of mention.

At any rate, thanks for the heads up on this example! A lot of sketchy examples popping up these days without auction disclosure.

@SWmania Thanks for sharing this information! As you mention, this seems to be a very common practice in 35 mm tre tacches.