Hello Blair,
Thank you for sending in this wrist watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that today.
TITLE:
Gent’s, 10K gold-filled, self-winding, wristwatch with day/date function, diamond set dial, and a flexible gold plated Speidel bracelet, Admiral 5 star model, made by Longines, St. Imier, Switzerland, circa 1972.
DESCRIPTION:
Case: 34mm(without crown) diameter, 10k yellow gold-filled, two leaf, round watch case with straight lugs, snap on, pan-shaped, back cover is marked “*10k gold filled” and "Remove Bezel to use 1260 Wrench". The watch is integrated with a mid-20th century Speidel gold plated steel flexible link bracelet. The circular shaped case cover should be numbered (another example has the following number 3026-507 6906304).
Dial: Champagne colored dial with gilt and black onyx applied baton hour indices @ 1, 5, 6, 7, 9 & 11. (Gold and onyx hours were used during the 1970s for the first time by Longines.} Diamond gemstones are the inset hour markers @ 2, 4, 8, 10 and two @12. A day/date aperture is found @3.
Movement: Not shown but should be the Longines caliber 507 (same as the Record caliber 1958-2, Longines had just bought that company). The cal. 507 is a self-winding, sweep seconds, day and quick set date (activated by pushing the crown), and 25.6 mm diameter movement made with 17 jewels and vibrating at 19800 beats/hour with a power reserve on a single winding of 44 hours. These type of movements were used during the 1970s. The movement should be signed and carry a serial number greater than 50360159, which represents 1970.
Condition:
Case – Poor with peeling of the gold plating mostly on the back cover and the back of the lugs. The bracelet is good for a Speidel which was likely the biggest seller in the mid-20th century years.
Dial – Unfortunately this dial is very poor with compound hairline fractures of the dial with oxidation to the worn parts from years of humidity and air exposure. The is a broke crystal which suggests that someone dropped this watch and by not repairing it the fate of the champagne colored metal dial was sealed. I am working on the assumption that the six diamonds are genuine. {I think I saw somewhere that the total of the diamonds weigh 0.3 carats, but that may be an error.}
Movement – Not seen, nor evaluated but will assume it is original to this case, genuine and functional with a proper cleaning, original to this case, genuine and likely functional.
HISTORY of Longines:
The original pioneers for Longines were watchmakers Jonas Raiguel (1782) and Auguste Agassiz (1832) of St. Imier, Switzerland. The Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company was an American agency founded by Auguste Agassiz circa 1847 in New York City. The first Longines Swiss factory was built by his nephew, Ernest Francillon in 1867 at St. Imier. This established a firm and lasting link between America and Switzerland for the production of watches. This was the first Longines factory that made watches by mechanical interchangeability of parts and utilized standardized machine methods. The first in-house Longines movement was created in 1867. Francillon was the first watchmaker to introduce the winding crown (All watches before that were wound with a key.) The same year Ernest Francillon returned from the World's Fair in Paris with a bronze medal for this watch. Due to prolific growth the factory buildings themselves regularly had to be adapted to the needs of a flourishing enterprise which, by 1911, employed over 1,100 people and sold its timepieces worldwide. The company’s various technical research projects earned so much acclaim abroad that Longines could claim the title of “leading prize winner” at international exhibitions up to the Barcelona Exhibition of 1929. It garnered ten Grand Prix awards (Antwerp 1885, Paris 1889, Brussels 1897, Paris 1900, Milan 1906, Bern 1914, Genoa 1914, Paris 1925, Philadelphia 1926 and Barcelona 1929). The history of the company is well known and easily researched on the internet, so I will not go into detail except for some interesting items...A letter exists from the 1885 International Inventions Exhibit in London which contains information about Longines: By 1885 they had added steam and water power to drive their machinery. They tried to prove interchangeability of watch parts by demonstrating that holding two dozen watch plates on wire strings one could see clearly through all of the jewel holes...In 1874 Longines filed for a Swiss trademark under the graphic symbol of an "hourglass with wings'. Originally these wings were more up and down than later trademarks where they are seen as side to side. The original trademark was finally registered in 1880 by the Swiss government. In 1905 their trademark of Longines written in script was registered. The word Longines in printed letters was registered in 1942 (was used before that date also). In 1957 the most famous trademark, the word Longines with the hour glass and stretched out wings was registered. The use of diamonds on Longines dials occurred mainly during the 1960-1980 era and later. In models such as the Admiral, the Conquest, Flagship, the Master collection, Grand Classique collection and Mystery watches.
COMPARABLES:
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/22033908_longines-admiral-automatic-mens-wrist-watch (SIMILAR MODEL SOLD IN 2013 FOR $275)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/31783765_a-gentleman-s-10k-gold-filled-longines-admiral (Sold in 2014 for 240 British Pounds)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/10658774_86-longines-a-10k-gold-filled-automatic-gentleman-s (Sold in 2012 but with a solid 14k bracelet for 650 GB Pounds)
~A watch just like your model sold on E-Bay in good to very good condition for approx. $500 this year. (I am unable to find it, but I did see that today and the photos were removed.)
PRICING:
The condition of your watch, sadly, precludes any significant valuation. The dial is devastated beyond repair, the case is not solid gold, nor is the bracelet. The only value here are the few diamond chips. I do not enjoy bringing bad news, but the fair market value in today’s demanding watch market (which requires very fine condition) would range from $125-$150.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com.
My best,
David