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1950's cream diall Longines ?

2K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Tomcat1960 
#1 ·
Iv'e just stumbled across this lovely looking watch. Trouble is, the advert makes little sense.
One place it says 1950's but is advertised as 1948 ? The style is very similar to the Longines Czech pilot but with a creamy dial
and stunning steel blue hands. I know that the Majetek dial was black and that their was an 'albino' version, but that looks nothing like
this watch.
Also the dial is not centered correctly.
Anyone seen one like it before ?

Longines MAJETEK Vintage 1948 for $ 2,612 for sale from a Private seller on Chrono24
 
#5 ·
Agree here - outside clear WWII era pilots watches i haven't seen ANYTHING near this size from Longines in the 50s - the large case WWII watches that are legit also tend to have large crowns as pilots wore gloves....different pics also give dramatically different colour perspectives on this watch which seems a little funky ? SDA
 
#3 ·
That is one beautiful watch that I' buy if I found it in a garage sale at, say, a hundred or so dollars. Period.

I mean, the text maintains it to be a Czech Air Force watch of 1948, a progenitor of the Panerai with the big-size movement later used in Panerais. Um ... what?

That's quite a lot of unsubstantiated yarn for a 2.5+ k watch in my opinion.

I'd offer something like 350 € on condition that a decent movement shot be provided.

My two cents.

Best,
Tomcat
 
#4 ·
Iv'e just stumbled across this lovely looking watch. Trouble is, the advert makes little sense.
One place it says 1950's but is advertised as 1948 ? The style is very similar to the Longines Czech pilot but with a creamy dial
and stunning steel blue hands. I know that the Majetek dial was black and that their was an 'albino' version, but that looks nothing like
this watch.
Also the dial is not centered correctly.
Anyone seen one like it before ?

Longines MAJETEK Vintage 1948 for $.2,612 for sale from a Private seller on Chrono24
Where is the advert?
and
If advert is 1948 and watch is 1950, is that a problem?

Its a lovely watch, I would want to compare dial to original, something about it?

Adam
 
#6 ·
It says details just left of pictures. The vendor seems far more interested in the custom strap than details
Of the watch ?
Can't see anything similar on a Google image search.
A Czech pilots Majetek is 41 mm without the crown so I would be surprised if that's 44 mm.
Stlll think that the dial has dropped in the case - or something isn't quite right.
Even so, it's very nice.
 
#7 ·
#8 · (Edited)
I agree that the watch in Adam's link looks correct, but even that one does not give enough information. No mention of the calibre (should be the 15.94), only the barest mention of age, no case back or internal photos, and the ones used look "generic".
For those amounts of cash, one needs a lot more info.

Not "Caveat Emptor" but "Fugam Emptor"!
 
#9 ·
OK guys, back to square one.
I do know what a standard Majetek looks like - I recently purchased this one



Approximately 3000 of these were made for the Czech airforce and general public between the mid 30's and late 40's.
The watch in question states that the year of manufacture was 1952. This is quite possible.
Longines may have had cases and movements left over, and thought along the lines of
New style dial but keep away from black as it's too military. Replace the old fashioned cathedral style hands and reduce all the Arabic numerals to just 4 giving a cleaner more modern look.
Remove the coin edge bi directional bezel, as Joe public won't need it and it's too fussy for general purposes.
Everyone seems to like steel blue hands so we shall apply them to a parchment coloured dial.
The rest we have in stock, so this is going to be our ' new ' Majetek '.for 1952.
As regards the Panerai comment - Many people believe that the original 1935 Majetek inspired the case design of the early Panerai.
Already 2 people have commented that they like the look of my new' Panny ' :-d
The vendor states that the case is 44 mm. The Majetek IS exactly 44mm. if you measure including the crown.
The poor quality images do show a genuine Longines Majetek case. The vendor does say that it's a redial.
My understanding of a good redial is that it looks as good as it would have looked in the shop 60 years ago - Not a redesign of the dial loosely
based on the original design ?
So either this could be a limited production run of a very handsome watch and worth the asking price
or a 'one off ' Frankenwatch made a couple of months ago.
If the vendor showed us the movement and number, Longines will tell us precisely what it is.
Richard
 
#11 ·
The vendor does say that it's a redial.
My understanding of a good redial is that it looks as good as it would have looked in the shop 60 years ago - Not a redesign of the dial loosely
based on the original design ?
Correct.
A redial is acceptable if a totally distressed dial is returned to as it would have looked. Not better or changed.
 
#10 ·
Maybe you should have told us all this at the beginning!:-d
 
#12 ·
There may be a reason why he doesn't show movement pics. Again - a hunny in a garage sale. My verdict.




Regards,
Tomcat

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