P&D Longines Cronómetro - with Airship!

Hi all,

I wanted to share a recent acquisition with the OF community that I appreciate for its elegant craftsmanship, design, condition, and historical context (not to mention gold weight!).

It’s a full hunter “Cronómetro” in 18k yellow gold, delivered to Perusset & Didisheim in Buenos Aires on Feb. 4, 1911 (a year and two months before the Titanic sunk, as a benchmark reference!)

The first and most immediately striking aspect of this watch is the cover’s very fine relief carving of the classic “art nouveau woman” atop a globe, flanked to her right by a cherub with some kind of instrument, and to her left by what I believe to be a stylized airship. This airship is particularly interesting as its design mirrors contemporary prototypes by Santos-Dumont of Brazil (picture from Wikipedia below), amongst others. Asides from this being an early example of Longines’ ties to aviation, I find the juxtaposition of neoclassical imagery and (what was at the time) a cutting edge and world-evolving technology quite charming and unique.

Inside, the watch is no slouch either, with what was elsewhere marketed as a “Railroad Movement”, cal. 21.59. It has a beautiful snail cam regulator and gold screwed chatons across its 3/4 plate movement - certainly befitting of its “Cronómetro” title! The dust cover is similarly attractive, with the expected medals but also a reiteration of the chronometer branding.


The dial and original handset gave held up quite well for their age also - I happen to love the look of Romans on a clean enamel dial.


Overall, hoping this post serves as a record of this piece and any related discussion. I’d like to expand my research further (hopefully with some assistance from Longines), as there are still a few mysteries with this example:

- Does Longines have any written record of this piece having been chronometer tested, in-house or externally?

- Was this a commission/special order, or deluxe “off-the-shelf” offering?

- If special ordered, by whom?

- Is there any commemorative significance of the airship? This was a time of many firsts among aviation pioneers, and the balloon feats of Santos-Dumont and Jorge Newbery were surely points of South American pride at the time.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy the pics and please do chime in with any thoughts/info. I’m relatively new here and am constantly learning!

Juergen

What a great story and what a beautiful watch - thank's for sharing this.

The interesting thing about history is always what it can tell you about people and the choices they made, particularly on something as personal as a watch. It's a great observation to see that someone decided to add the latest thing (an airship) to an otherwise classically inspired art nouveau design. Airships were the thing of the day in their time, turning up on everything from clocks to lampshades to the covers of pulp novels.

Thank you! To me the whole design is a perfect representation of the “classical, yet forward thinking” ethos the Longines brand seems to be chasing nowadays.

That's an absolutely stunning pocket watch! I'm still trying to figure out what the cherub is handling. Doesn't look like any musical instrument I know. Possibly a radio, or stylized skyscraper, or some other machinery of the time?

Thanks for sharing. Now I want one!

@J_pilot can you share how you acquired this? Did you happen across it, or had you known of it and gone on a search?

My working theory for the instrument is “futuristic hurdy gurdy” but there’s definitely room for interpretation! I also initially thought skyscraper until bringing out the loupe.

Re. How I acquired, a friend of mine picked up at an antique show from an Argentinian dealer and sent me pictures, after which we worked out a deal! It immediately jumped out at both of us as something special.

Here it is with its “cronómetro” brother, also delivered to Perusset just one year later in 1912 (this one was an eBay find).

An exceptionally nice watch, and great photos. The depictions on the case are especially intriguing, but the Cronometro-signed enamel dial and frosted cal. 21.59 are wonderful, as well. Thanks for sharing!

Hi, this seems to be a one cylinder gas engine, they usually looked like this in those times.

Beautiful find, I note that the vast majority of the cronometros (including medical) from D&P I have seen were made or commissioned in a very small time span around the early 1910s.

Thank you @DirtyDozen12 and @707mm2 !

Amazing suggestion! After some googling around, it bears a striking resemblance to a (roughly contemporaneous) De Dion-Bouton engine, used in Santos-Dumont's #1 and #2 dirigibles!!

Based on the visible radiator fins and crank cover bolts. I think you nailed it.

Source: https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/de-dion-bouton-langley-line-1-engine/nasm_A19390063000

Sorry to double post but here's a super interesting writeup on the different engines used in Santos-Dumont airships and their configurations within the airship "basket". It appears to me that very similar engines were used in dirigibles 1-3, hilariously mounted direct to the basket:

http://www.blemya.com/2011/05/inventions-of-santosdumont-to-first.html

Beautiful watch - and what indeed looks like the glorification of new technologies by those graceful figures is simply priceless and a puzzling combination.