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History: The Longines story starts
in 1832 when Auguste Agassiz arrived in Saint-Imier and entered the "Comptoir horloger Raiguel Jeune". One year later, he founded the "Comptoir Raiguel Jeune & Cie" together with Florian Morel and Henri Raiguel. One of Auguste's sisters married Charles-Marc Francillon, a shopkeeper from Lausanne and in 1834 they had a son, Ernest Francillon.
In 1866, Auguste's nephew, Ernest Francillon, bought two plots of land on the right bank of the river Suze at the place called "Les Longines" and brought all of the watchmaking skills under one roof - this was the first
Longines factory.
With the inauguration of the new factory in 1867, the production of the first Longines movement, the L20A, commenced. At that time, watches used to be wound by means of a key. The
Longines watch however broke with these traditional watchmaking methods having a "lever" movement which was wound and the time set by means of the crown. It was Ernest Francillon himself who went to Paris to present this watch at the 1867 Universal Exhibition. He returned to Saint-Imier with a bronze medal.
Ever since his first watch in 1867, Francillon engraved a winged hourglass on all
Longines movements. In his battle against counterfeits, he already in 1874 sent out his first warning to all
Longines customers.
On the 19th of July 1880 at 11:00 am Ernest Francillon registered at the Federal Office of Intellectual Property under patent number 118 and 119 the brand Longines and its original logo, featuring the winged hourglass.
The
Longines trademark was first registered, under patent number 2684, at 4:00 pm on 27th of May 1889 and under patent number 14 on the 27th of March 1893 at the International Office of Intellectual Property (today the WIPO, World Intellectual Property
Organizaton) International exhibitions In 1885,
Longines won its first "Grand Prix" at an international exhibition in Antwerp . Further success followed in Brussels (1897), Paris (1889, 1900 and 1925), Milan (1906), Genoa (1914), Berne (1914), Philadelphia (1926) and Barcelona (1929). Longines' record of ten "Grand Prix" and 28 "Medailles d'Or" has never been equaled by any other watch manufacturer.
How to Care for Antiquarian & Vintage Watches
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Most vintage watches are mechanical.
Repairs will not be cheap. Most likely they will require replacement of non-standard parts (unlike
late model
watches)
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Vintage watches should
be handled with care and avoid being dropped as gold cases will dint
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Generally vintage watches
are NOT waterproof. Waterproofing watch cases was not in general production until the middle of the 20th century for most watches. Therefore protect your antique watch from exposure to
moisture
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If your watch becomes wet it should be dried off quickly. Carefully open all covers and use a hair drier to blow dry the movement, dial, covers, crown. This will reduce the amount of
rust
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If your watch becomes wet with any kind of salt water you should immediately immerse or spray your watch with fresh
water to remove all the salt before drying the watch completely
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Winding any mechanical watch tightly
will break the mainspring. Always wind the watch gentle and stop
when the crown springs back
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When adjusting the hands of your watch,
wind in a clockwise direction only. Counter-clockwise adjustments may damage the
movement
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If you must adjust counter-clockwise make it for small adjustments only (i.e. for minutes, NOT
hours)
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Be careful and gentle when adjusting the movement speed (faster or
slower) Don't make sharp movements, and don't touch other components in the movement especially the pendulum
mechanism
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Every 2-3 years it is necessary to service and oil vintage
watches
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When the watch is dirty - allow the watch to run down, don't wind it again until you have it serviced by a qualified watchmaker. Dust will absorb and remove important lubricants and cause the movement pieces to wear
down
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To clean the case, dial and crystal you should use a cloth that does NOT leave fibers as these may get caught in the movement.
Buy an approved watch cloth from a qualified jeweler
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Keep vintage watch away from magnets. Strong magnetic fields may affect the accuracy of your watch since some vintage watches were made with iron based components in the
movement
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Most watch cases are fine components and will not handle abuse well. The watch should not be shaken, beaten, or
stressed
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Vintage watches generally experience an error of up to 5-7 minutes a day. Any accuracy of +- 5 minutes is very
good
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