![]() The race was on to find effective solutions in regard to making these watches impervious to water. This was the period in which chronographs had become very popular, and the issue of waterproofing or water tightness was one of the main foci for a lot of brands. ![]() This was during a period where chronographs were in high demand, and very few companies had their own in-house produced movement. Used in a variety of cases - with semi-instantaneous counters, flyback, without flyback, monopusher and centre minutes - Longines had all the tools needed to make all the steel parts “in-house” by the mid-’30s. Calibre 13ZN Filed on 12 June 1935 and registered on 16 June 1936. Although the flyback function had been used by Longines watchmakers a couple of years prior on a very small number of examples of 13.33Z, the 13ZN was the first calibre in which the patent was filed and widely used for flyback (also known as retour en vol or the Taylor system). Produced and commercialised from 1936 to 1951, the successor to the smaller calibre 13.33Z, the 13ZN has become a cult classic and must-have for collectors of vintage chronographs from the ’30s and ’40s. Of all the many interesting references and calibres, those with the calibre 13ZN are some of the most sought after by collectors. Very few people today realise that Longines was, in fact, the superlative chronograph and chronometer manufacture of the time. Longines was one of the few completely vertically integrated companies at the time and, therefore, its vintage pieces are now becoming highly sought after. ![]() Up until the mid 1940s, a Longines watch was more prestigious and better in quality than both its Omega and Rolex counterparts, second probably only to Patek Philippe (which, incidentally, did not use in-house movements). Of that poll, a staggering 92 percent replied that, under those circumstances, they would own a Longines. In 1913, a poll commissioned by the New York Times asked the American public which brand of luxury watch they would like to own if price were no object. ![]() And when it came to topics such as the advancement in production techniques, handmade cases, extremely high quality dials, and in-house movements with calibres finished to an excellent standard, Longines finished first in class across all categories. The 1920s, ’30s and ’40s are widely considered by many as a golden age for watches, with many world firsts appearing during this era. ![]() At the time, they were, in my view (and in many cases still are), unquestionably some of the best value that you could find in vintage watch collecting. When I first started collecting vintage watches, I was immediately drawn to vintage Longines. ![]()
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