Mens 1933 LONGINES Vintage SILVER DeCO TONNEAU Watch

Longines

UNIQUE AND RARE EXAMPLE OF TIMEPIECE
VERY BEAUTIFUL VINTAGE WATCH 1933
VERY BEAUTIFUL MECHANICAL WORK

I am pleased to offer for sale this truly a gorgeous timepiece folks...a men's silver “Longines” in the classic Tanke form that dates to 1933.

History :

The Longines story starts back in 1832 when Auguste Agassiz arrived in Saint-Imier and entered the "Comptoir horloger Raiguel Jeune". One year later, he founded the "Comptoir Raiguel Jeune & Cie" together with Florian Morel and Henri Raiguel. One of Auguste's sisters married Charles-Marc Francillon, a shopkeeper from Lausanne and in 1834 they had a son, Ernest Francillon.

In 1866, Auguste's nephew, Ernest Francillon, bought two plots of land on the right bank of the river Suze at the place called "Les Longines" and brought all of the watchmaking skills under one roof - this was the first "Longines factory".

With the inauguration of the new factory in 1867, the production of the first Longines movement, the L20A, commenced. At that time, watches used to be wound by means of a key. The Longines watch however broke with these traditional watchmaking methods having a "lever" movement which was wound and the time set by means of the crown. It was Ernest Francillon himself who went to Paris to present this watch at the 1867 Universal Exhibition. He returned to Saint-Imier with a bronze medal.

Ever since his first watch in 1867, Francillon engraved a winged hourglass on all Longines movements. In his battle against counterfeits, he already in 1874 sent out his first warning to all Longines customers.

On the 19th of July 1880 at 11:00 am Ernest Francillon registered at the Federal Office of Intellectual Property under patent number 118 and 119 the brand Longines and its original logo, featuring the winged hourglass. The Longines trademark was first registered, under patent number 2684, at 4:00 pm on 27th of May 1889 and under patent number 14 on the 27th of March 1893 at the International Office of Intellectual Property (today the WIPO, World Intellectual Property Organizaton).

International exhibitions

In 1885, Longines won its first "Grand Prix" at an international exhibition in Antwerp. Further success followed in Brussels (1897), Paris (1889, 1900 and 1925), Milan (1906), Genoa (1914), Berne (1914), Philadelphia (1926) and Barcelona (1929). Longines' record of ten "Grand Prix" and 28 "Medailles d'Or" has never been equaled by any other watch manufacturer.

The SILVER dial is finished and in MINT condition, professionally updated and nicely done at that. It features a crisp checkered 60 minute outer track border and a recessed sub-seconds dial with 60 second outer chapter and “sweep” blue steel seconds hand, Arabic numerals, original blue steel Dauphine-style hands. Signed Longines below the RED 12.

The silver winding crown is in excellent shape, operating smoothly. The new dial and the case are made of pure silver, have been professionally updated, and now are in excellent condition. Turning the watch over I see that the back lid is in excellent condition with absolutely no wear or inscriptions.

Peeking inside I find a VINTAGE and ORIGINAL beautiful jewels, manual wind gold plated high-grade movement signed LONGINES and with movement serial number 5,206,240.

This serial number dates this watch to 1933 as per published production numbers. Below the balance wheel is the caliber number, stamped 10.26.

This beautiful wristwatch has the Original movement in an excellent status which was very well saved, considering age of this watch. Mechanism has been recently serviced to ensure it winds and sets smoothly while keeping great, accurate time.

It is fitted on a new 18mm black genuine leather strap with stainless steel buckle that is vintage style and goes great with this wonderful watch.

This signed watch (dial & mechanism) is crafted of Pure Silver and measures 47mm end to end and 32mm in width (35mm with crown).

This beautiful and fully restored Art DeCo men’s watch winds and sets smoothly while keeping accurate time.