1920s 18ct gold rectangular vintage Longines watch

A 1920s vintage Longines watch. The 18ct gold rectangular case measures 25 x 37.5 mm (including lugs) with personalised engraving ‘JRH 29.8.32 M’ to the back. The case is signed AB (Arthur Baume), Swiss, hallmarked London 1929 and numbered. The fine quality, 9.40 calibre manual wind movement is signed Longines, Swiss Made with 18 jewels and numbered. The dial has black Roman numerals, with a red twelve, subsidiary seconds dial and fine blued steel ‘Breguet’ style hands. The dial is signed Longines above the centre.

A truly stunning 1920s gentleman’s dress watch from Longines!

The Longines 9.40 Calibre movement

The movement inside this watch is an horological work of art. This is Longines calibre 9.40, a hand wound mechanism launched in 1926. Although a completely new creation, the 9.40 still followed the classic Longines production model that had been used since 1902, with a very distinctive long curved central bridge. The Swiss watch industry had broken production records in 1925, but it was noticeable that many firms were compromising quality in order to meet demand that in reality they did not have the infra-structure to satisfy. Much to its credit, Longines never took this route and maintained the excellence on which its reputation had been founded. The 9.40 was an advanced unit intended for a high spending market. New collectors are surprised to hear that it shares every one of its components with another Longines movement, the 10.40, also released in 1926. The only difference between the two is an extra ligne in the diameter (the ligne is the unit of movement width measurement traditionally used in the Swiss watch industry) of the latter and otherwise, these units are identical. The running speed of the 9.40 was 18000 half beats per hour, which at the time, long before the fast beat era of the 1960s, was considered a rapid pace.