A Longines from 1939

osterman
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Hi everybody.
I have inherited a dual-tone Longines ref. 4179, with the well-known 12.68z movement, which, according to Longines (and I would like to thank them a lot) has been shipped on 4th March 1939 to the Italian agent Ostersetzer.
It was in quite poor conditions, but after a cleaning of the dial, a service and a new crystal, I think it is now satisfactory.
Here's the "before" and "after".
Hope you like it.
20230514_232511.jpg 20230725_192435.jpg
 
BlueHands
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Nice watch but what happened with the small second hand? On the first photo it looks like it was original but on the after view it is replaced.
 
osterman
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You're right. I noticed it when I came home and today I went to the watchmaker asking him to put back the old hands. I hope he'll succeed! I'll keep you informed
 
Deafboy
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The minute hand looks different too.
I'm surprised to see the watchmaker did not clean the case.
Edited:
 
Larry S
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The watchmaker should have consulted you before swapping hands. It’s possible that the hands were bad.
 
theluckyluke
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It looks nice!
I notice the 6 is also gone. Out of curiosity, what’s the process for cleaning up a dial this age?
 
osterman
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theluckyluke theluckyluke
It looks nice!
I notice the 6 is also gone. Out of curiosity, what’s the process for cleaning up a dial this age?
I understand they use a sort of rubber.
 
osterman
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UPDATE
After some discussion with the watchmaker, the hands have been replaced with correct ones.
He said the old ones were damaged.
Here's the actual resul.
20230906_125256.jpg
 
DirtyDozen12
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Thanks for the update.

Given that this is your watch, what matters is that you are happy with the result. As a vintage Longines collector, I much prefer the watch in its pre-intervention state. All three hands appeared to be correct, though it is difficult to assess the minute hand as the tip is not clearly visible. Further, the dial retained its 6 o'clock hour marker. For reference, the current handset does not look correct, to me. The feuille-style hour and minute hands look too thin, and the second hand appears oversized.
 
osterman
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Unfortunately I think you are right...
At least now it runs very well...
 
DirtyDozen12
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osterman osterman
Unfortunately I think you are right...
At least now it runs very well...
It is certainly nice to have the movement running well.
 
BlueHands
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Thanks also for your update. What a pity that it went a bit wrong like that. But it looks not bad, you can live with it and maybe there is another solution one day.
 
LesXL
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Very nice watch indeed... glad you are enjoying it. As some said, I too would have preferred it in its original state

Now your watch looks very familiar
PXL_20230911_101438817.MP.jpg
 
osterman
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Very nice! Definetely much better than mine!
Same refernce? Mine is ref. 4179.
 
LesXL
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osterman osterman
Very nice! Definetely much better than mine!
Same refernce? Mine is ref. 4179.
Thanks.
Mine is ref 23518 from 1947
Similar sold here on OF
 
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