I recently bought a collection of 1940s -1950s watches with most along the lines of this Longines (others Hamiltons, Wittnauer etc.). I am looking for opinions from some of the experts out there. A dealer acquaintance that I know (and respect) questioned the font on the dial (saying its a redial) and myself being more of a 1970s vintage watch guy, I am still learning on some of these older models. I have zero interest in having or offering a redial example of anything. I guess I am curious on this one as the dial has a deep texture which I would think makes applying the Longines font a little more tricky verses a smooth dial during its mfg process. Anyway, thought I would throw a few pics up and see if any of you have any insights you could share to assist my education . Thank you so very much in advance. My best, Michael

 

The signature is questionable, and certainly differs from the typical one of the period. However, that uncommon type of dial created serious challenges in printing, and therefore I am not 100% certain that it isn't original.

 

In addition to the font, I think you would be hard-pressed to find such short hands on a dial that doesn't have an "inner ring" of minute markers. I would also expect to see SWISS at the bottom ... usually. I know that there are always exceptions, but there are several things that concern me about this example.

 

thank you for the reply. That was what I was wondering as well. This dial really has a deep line texture. Thank you again for the opinion.

 

Yes..I see what you mean as far as the hands, though the minute hand does come right to the tip of the hour markers. The dial actually is marked Swiss at the bottom below 6, just hard to see as its right on the edge. Thank you again for the info.

 

Here are a couple more pics with the dial removed from the case if it helps.....

 

I'd say that is a redial. In spite of the challenging surface, the signatures should be finer. Also, given that the case and movement show plenty of wear, the nearly pristine dial surface is suspicious.

 

Thats a good point you have there for sure. Thank you thank you! I would expect that to be straight for sure between the markers. I am going with redial, thus off to the junk drawer I guess. Its too bad, such a good looking watch. I assume redial watches like this have little value to anyone, yes? I do not get why someone would go through all this trouble on a watch like this.

 

Don't forget that you have a nice movement there. It might be useful someday.