It is my understanding that the larger ones were intended for professionals whereas the smaller (and more common) ones were intended for the general public. I am not certain about this though.

 

Hi there,
Longines ladies watches at the time were 27-28mm or smaller -- while 32mm is definitely a man's watch.

Cheers,
S

 

While the larger ones likely came before the smaller ones, the overlap in production would suggest (to me at least) that the two sizes were intended for different buyers.

After very cursory research, I wonder if the smaller ones were produced primarily (or even exclusively) for the USA.

 

@DirtyDozen12
Your idea of a model for the US market is possible, Longines were definitely creating watches for that market and I have interesting ad copy to that effect from the mid-30s.
(info from Longines' historian which I was planning on posting but I've been quite busy with work).

Edit-- thinking about it, one reason I think you may be right is that all of the 32mm Hour Angles I've seen (ie in two years of monitoring various web sources) were US market movements.

 

This is what I noticed as well.

 

I have one of those GF hour angle Longines. They are definitely men's watch. Mine has an unreadable name followed by A.A.F (Army Air Force). I am not sure if mine was issued but it definitely belonged to someone working in the air force. You are correct that these were made for the US market. Mine was issued during the war (1941). The case was made locally under License from Longines.

 

Can somebody please post a picture or two?

 

Yep, LXW on a 12L makes it a US market caliber.

 

Note that some of these GF hour angle watches came with a 10L movement (the one in the ebay listing has a 12L). When a 10L movement is used, there is a metal spacer to accommodate the smaller diameter of the 10L. Longines-Wittnauer in the US seemed to have been flexible as far as fitting movements in watches. That may be particularly true for those produced during or right after WWII.