1920s 9ct rose gold round vintage Longines ‘half-hunter’ watch
Date: 1925
Case: 9ct gold, 34.5mm
Movement: Longines calibre 13.34
Dial: White enamel with black Arabic numerals
Lugs: 14mm
A sensational vintage Longines half-hunter wristwatch in 9ct rose gold!
A 1925, 9ct rose gold round vintage Longines ‘half-hunter’ watch. The case measures 34.5mm in diameter with 14mm hinged lugs. The case is signed AB (Arthur Baume director of Longines UK), hallmarked London 1925 and numbered. The protective front cover has blue enamel Arabic numerals surrounding the small glass, to enable the wearer to tell the time more readily. The manual wind, calibre 13.34, movement is signed Longines, Swiss, B&CO., with 15 jewels. The white enamel dial has black ‘skeletonise’ numerals, with subsidiary seconds and fine blued steel ‘squelettes’ hands. The dial is signed Longines above the centre.
Half-Hunter wristwatches
This style of watch, with a smaller glass cover is called a ‘half hunter’. The name comes from huntsmen (men on horseback) and their requirements for a watch. Early pocket watches were open faced and the glass was easily cracked during a hunt. A hunter pocket watch had a solid cover over the face, by depressing a button on the winding crown the cover would pop open to check the time (easily done with one hand by the huntsman). A variation of this was introduced, with a small glass in the centre of the protective cover, so one could see the time without opening the cover.
