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Why so little Cal. 302 love?

  1. TropicConnie May 8, 2018

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    I've noticed that out of all the historic Longines manual calibers, the 30L gets the most attention and mentions here on the forums. I've also seen stated many times that a bigger balance wheel makes better (at least more consistent) timekeeper, all else being equal. In my experience this is likely true - my Vostok is more accurate than my Omega 601, and my Cyma is more accurate than either. So I thought I'd measure the size of the balance wheel of a few movements to see how they compare. I've listed the results below.

    11.5''' (28 mm)
    Omega 601: 10.29 mm balance wheel
    Vostok 2809: 12.20 mm balance wheel

    13''' (30 mm)
    Longines 30L: 11.18 mm balance wheel
    Longines 302: 12.58 mm balance wheel
    Longines 30B: 15.3 mm balance wheel
    Omega 30T2RG: 11.44 mm balance wheel
    Zenith 135: 12.06 mm balance wheel

    15''' (33.5 mm)
    Cyma 586K: 13.05 mm balance wheel
    Longines 15.68Z: 13.15 mm balance wheel

    16.5''' (36.6 mm)
    Unitas 6497/8: 14 mm balance wheel

    I won't claim absolute accuracy in my measurements, but the Longines 302 clearly has the largest balance wheel (besides the pocket watch sized movements and the Observatory Competition Chronometer 30B) so my question is why isn't it as talked about or widely collected as the 30L, when it appears to be the most advanced and refined commonly available version of the Longines 30 series? Searches on eBay and Chrono24 return many more results for the 30L when compared to the 302. Is it simply that the 302 is rarer?

    For those interested, my method to measure the balance wheel sizes was to use the Ranfft database, counting the size in pixels of the diameter and radii of the balance wheel and overall movement, and taking an average of these two results.
     
    Edited May 10, 2018
  2. imfagent449 Jun 20, 2020

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    I am surprised that no one answered.

    From what I have seen, the 302 although having a larger balance, has far fewer designs. There is one with roman numerals and the regular silvered dial version and less than a handful of others (please correct me if I am wrong) . The larger balance and fewer designs seems suggestive of an arms race around this time for accuracy (variation in daily rate) vs price. The logo on my 302 is printed on the dial.

    I couldn't speculate on why there may be more posts on one movement/calibre variant over another. I personally love wearing watches the 280 series movements- they have very subdued designs.
     
    Edited Jun 21, 2020