# Longines Mystery Dial: My First (And Only) Vintage Watch.



## Jeremy Fisher (Jan 28, 2012)

Hi,

I got this watch a few months ago as a late 21st birthday present and am pretty chuffed with it:

















It came with documents so I know quite a lot about it: it was made in 1959, the case is 14k gold, it used to have enamel dots on the hour marker - which are now missing  and the movement is a handwound 'Longines caliber 23z'.

It also came with data from a watch timing machine/computer thing called MicroSet III (which i don't understand at all):

No of samples: 302

Last Reading; 17999.73

Average BPH: 18000.157

Target Rate: 18000.00

Average Error: 5.3 Sec/Week

Instability: 2 secs/day

I was hoping someone could tell me what all this means, is it good or bad etc.


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## Roamer Man (May 25, 2011)

Still running like the proverbial, then..


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## tixntox (Jul 17, 2009)

The data shows your watch is giving a fantastic accurate performance to within 5.3 seconds a week. Wow!


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## Jeremy Fisher (Jan 28, 2012)

Thanks for the information. I think I really lucked out with the watch, the previous owner had bought the watch from a company which specializes in restoring vintage watches.


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## martinus_scriblerus (Sep 29, 2008)

Jeremy Fisher said:


> Hi,
> 
> I got this watch a few months ago as a late 21st birthday present and am pretty chuffed with it:
> 
> ...


I suspect in real life you will find a larger variance in timekeeping than what the report says. I have a LARGE collection of watches from the 1950's. My expectation of a watch keeping "good vintage time" is keeping time to about a minute per day. For very old watches, a couple minutes is fine.

Lots of companies specialize in restoring vintage watches. The issue is PARTS. Generally after many years of service the parts are quite worn. Parts are NOT AVAILABLE. If you have reasonable expectations for an old watch you will not be disappointed. And some old watches (I have had very good luck with old manual wind Rolex watches) will keep excellent time. My opinion is that a vintage watch is a fashion and lifestyle statement rather than a precision instrument. To the second accuracy is illusory at best anyway - no one is real life shows up to the second for anything.

If you have a NEED for a tool watch, that keeps split second accuracy, these watches are NEW and they ARE NOT mechanical. Since you are new to this (and young to boot) if you acknowledge what you can realistically expect an antique to do you will be fine. I wear an antique watch nearly every day (been wearing a 1940's Helbros chronograph the last week - it keeps time to under a minute per day - loses time when you wear it, gains a bunch back overnight - this is not unusual for an old watch - and this is also AFTER repair by a chronograph specialist and the installation of a new balance and mainspring etc).

By the way, I have one of these Longines mysery dials too. It says "hello":










I love Longines watches from the '50's, '60's and '70's. They were high quality items that have stood the test of time (so to speak).


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