Hi all, What are your thoughts on this watch? The dial looks okay but maybe a bit too clean for its age? Movement: Swiss made mechanical hand-winding Longines cal. 27M Case Width: 36/37 mm without/with crown. Case Length: 43,5 mm with the lugs. Case Thickness: 8,5 mm 15 jewels, f = 18000 A/h, power reserve 42h
Given the apparent condition of the case and movement, the dial could be original. Better photos would be needed to assess in more detail.
Below are a few examples of original (IMO), printed, winged-hourglass emblems from the period. They are more detailed than the one seen above. This lack of detail, in conjunction with a distinctly white dial foot and the overall condition, strongly suggest that the dial has been refinished. Also notice the incomplete "S" of "Longines". I believe that this imperfection is another hint. On another note, the seller states that the movement has 15 jewels despite it clearly being marked "17 Jewels". This error does not inspire great confidence.
yea I thought the white feet were suspect. I hadnt noticed the lack of the additional horizontal lines of the hourglass as well. Thanks for the reference pics dirtydozen! I'll be archiving them in my files.
Interesting note on the hourglass logo, which I hadn't noticed. @Tony C. are you looking at this on a phone? The somewhat soft edges of the subdial and the seemingly uneven subdial indexes would have given me pause....
Here is a pic of the case back. Is the first set of numbers "5695" the reference number? It doesnt match the serial number on the movement because the case was made outside of Switzerland? Is the second set of numbers "20" referring to the movement? If so it doesnt match because the movement here is a 27.0. Just trying to see if I'm learning the right info from my research.
Since I'm hunting a longines calatrava style watch I guess I'll post my thoughts along this journey as I'm learning about these watches and spotting good/bad examples. Note: I'm a new collector so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. I wanted to test my knowledge with you veterans to see if I'm accurately internalizing vintage watch collecting info. Here's another watch on eBay from an Italian seller. From what I've read Italians tend to have nice Longines and this one looks pretty great at first glance. The 108xxxxx serial number which puts it around 1958 so the nearly mint dial is a bit suspect. The case also looks nearly mint and due to fuzziness of the pic its hard to tell if it was polished. However to my eyes, the back of the watch and the movement offers clues to the story of this watch. The back of the case looks more worn and in a lot worse condition so the front of the case was probably polished. The movement is also not as clean as the dial condition would suggest. That plus the white dial feet makes me think this is likely a redial. The last pic gives a better view on the edges of the lugs which dont look sharp which adds evidence that this was polished. So my conclusion is that this watch is a polished redial and not very desirable for a collector. What are you thoughts? Am I on the right track? Thanks! Anthony
Hi Anthony, I'm also a fellow learner in vintage Longines - still low on the learning curve! Pardon my ignorance, but how do you see the dial feet? I can't quite figure out where those are in the pics! Thanks!
vintage longines with original dials should have brass feet rather than silver/white feet. See this post by @DirtyDozen12 for more info: https://omegaforums.net/threads/beware-problem-longines-watches.41134/#post-484321
