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F.Antl
·Dear fellow (vintage) watch maniacs and, especially, knowledgeable Longines collectors,
Is there any proof or educated opinion whether the ref. 8225-1 (vintage Nonius chronograph) originally came with both case finish options, brushed and polished? I believe it's clear that an upper case with radial brushing (aka sunray pattern) was original to this model. But you can also find multiple examples with a fully polished case. Of course, many of them were only polished to that high-gloss standard at a later point - and in the vast majority of cases (unfortunately), you can easily tell.
However, there is also fully polished examples whose edges appear to be too sharp and unmolested to make me easily believe it's just the result of some subsequent tinkering. The following watch - mine - is exactly such an example:
Could this high-gloss finish with perfect edges actually be the result of subsequent polishing? But if so, why wouldn’t a specialist who can achieve such clean edges simply apply the supposedly sole correct brushed finish in the first place? Or were both case variants - brushed and polished - available ex-works (in which case the distinction cannot have been made solely on the basis of the reference number)?
And, as a bonus question: My watch came with an unusual solid-link(!) bracelet, made by JB Champion, stamped "2-74" and equipped with a Longines-marked clasp. Does anyone know of such bracelets being originally fitted to this particular reference? (At the moment I tend to believe it's just an aftermarket bracelet that was mounted onto an otherwise original clasp in order to replace whatever was the original configuration.)
Kind regards,
F.Antl
Is there any proof or educated opinion whether the ref. 8225-1 (vintage Nonius chronograph) originally came with both case finish options, brushed and polished? I believe it's clear that an upper case with radial brushing (aka sunray pattern) was original to this model. But you can also find multiple examples with a fully polished case. Of course, many of them were only polished to that high-gloss standard at a later point - and in the vast majority of cases (unfortunately), you can easily tell.
However, there is also fully polished examples whose edges appear to be too sharp and unmolested to make me easily believe it's just the result of some subsequent tinkering. The following watch - mine - is exactly such an example:
Could this high-gloss finish with perfect edges actually be the result of subsequent polishing? But if so, why wouldn’t a specialist who can achieve such clean edges simply apply the supposedly sole correct brushed finish in the first place? Or were both case variants - brushed and polished - available ex-works (in which case the distinction cannot have been made solely on the basis of the reference number)?
And, as a bonus question: My watch came with an unusual solid-link(!) bracelet, made by JB Champion, stamped "2-74" and equipped with a Longines-marked clasp. Does anyone know of such bracelets being originally fitted to this particular reference? (At the moment I tend to believe it's just an aftermarket bracelet that was mounted onto an otherwise original clasp in order to replace whatever was the original configuration.)
Kind regards,
F.Antl
