Platinum/Palladium Longines "Tank"

Hello guys,

Am curious if some of our Longines experts have any information on platinum or palladium Longines "tank" watches from the 30's-40's. Can't seem to find much information, beyond the example below which was sold by Robert Maron.



It seems these often had a diamond encrusted dial, but this particular example has a silver dial. Unfortunately, there is no additional information about reference or movement. Does anyone have any familiarity with the example above?

Thanks,

Andrew

That’s a weird combination of Hamilton and Illinois.

Huh? Not sure I understand.

the dial is reminiscent of Hamilton dials of the 30's and 40's with the Breguet style numbers in WG/Pt.

to use the Hamilton example further the use of both Platinum and Diamond dials was well documented during the 30's.

the case is also reminiscent of some Illinois models from the late 20's to the early 30's.

the case style is also seen in the US generic case market from the same era.

as for whether or not this is a genuine Longines or just an example like the Hamilton...

Andrew,

The watch you pictured is from the late 1920s or early 1930s, which is a decade or more before the diamond-dial versions we usually see. It appears to be factory-cased model... they were available in gold fill, 14K, and 18K. And I think I have seen a notation either in an advertisement or catalog page from that era that it was available in platinum as well. I had a customer who collected these 1920s and 1930s models and he had numerous Longines advertisements showing the various watches, but he passed away and I don't know what happened to them.

There are numerous non-factory-cased diamond dial models available on the internet and from dealers, but they are Longines movements with after-market dials and cases.

The earliest factory-cased models in palladium, platinum, and gold with diamond dials probably date from the 1940s or 1950s. I am awaiting an extract from Longines to nail down the production date on the factory-cased palladium example pictured below. I know I've seen an advertisement or catalog page for this model, but can't find it now.

Agreed the watch in the OP is 1920s. At most early 30s styled after 1920s.

There was a mixed lot I was watching on EBay, that ended up running higher than I could justify on a hunch. But it had a Longines Tank, that suspiciously looked like the one above. I've included the best picture from the listing. That was where my curiosity stemmed from. The diamond dials really don't do it for me, but these earlier styles are beautiful.

Nice catch on the Longines in that group of watches. Here is a portion of an advertisement from 1927 showing the watch in platinum:

is it cased in Switzerland or is it a US job?

What in the world is a green gold case?

Fourteen karat yellow gold is an alloy of about 58% pure gold and 42% other metals... usually a mixture of copper and silver. In green gold, the 42% mixture has much more silver than copper, and results in a slightly different color for the gold... a hint of green. It can be difficult to tell it apart from yellow gold, but easier if you compare yellow watch and green watch side by side. The same holds true in proportion for 18K at 75% to 25%.

Green gold was popular in the 1920s and 1930s, much less so after that time.