Live Auction 1404Important Watches
Longines. A rare and attractive 18K gold chronograph wristwatch with central minute register
Lot 262

Longines. A rare and attractive 18K gold chronograph wristwatch with central minute register

SIGNED LONGINES, REF. 5161, MOVEMENT NO. 7'372'184, CASE NO. 126, MANUFACTURED IN 1948

Closed10 November 2014

Price Realised

CHF 30,000

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Longines. A rare and attractive 18K gold chronograph wristwatch with central minute register
Signed Longines, ref. 5161, movement no. 7'372'184, case no. 126, manufactured in 1948
Cal. 13ZN mechanical jeweled movement, silvered brushed dial, applied dagger and Arabic numerals, central blued steel hand for chronographic seconds, central red hand for chronographic minutes, outer blue tachymetre scale, inner railway minute divisions and Arabic five minute divisions, two sunken engine-turned subsidiary dials for constant seconds and 12 hours registers, circular case, downturned lugs, sloped bezel, snap on back, two square chronograph buttons in the band, case, dial and movement signed
38.5 mm. diam.

Specialist note

According to Longines archives, this watch was sold on Decemebr 7, 1948 to Mr. Girod, their agent for Spain at the time.

This watch presents a highly unusual arrangement of the chronographic hands: instead of having the minutes register at 3 o' clock, there is a supplementary central hand for the minutes, and the subcounter is used as 12 hours register; this is a solution Longines reserved to a very limited number of models. Furthermore, the red minutes hand has a momentous impact on the overall look of the watch; in effect, modern watchmaking is very fond of such a design, and central red hands can be found on a number of modern watches. Thus, this timepiece can be considered one of the archetypes that inspired today's fashion.