Lot 206

Longines

Olympic

A heavy 1/10 split seconds chronograph with 30 min. counter and constant force

Sold

According to Longines this watch with the movement 262 was the most exact ever produced by Longines. The watch has a 1/10 seconds counter and has a double 1/5 seconds scale for this purpose.

"Just before the introduction of electronic time measurement watch designers tried one last time to defy the triumph of electronics - by creating a mechanical watch which incorporated all major technical accomplishments of its time. Their endeavours culminated in the caliber 262. All prerequisites for a precision watch were met: Large movement (57 mm); Guillaume nickel steel balance, anti-magnetic Nivarox hairspring with inner and outer terminal curves - but then, on-one but a specialist would use an inner terminal curve in 1963!
Swan neck regulation and a fine regulator for setting the time to the second went without saying and the balance-wheel frequency of 36,000 alternations per hour guaranteed absolute precision. Cut and bevelling matched the standard of the movement design. The main attraction, however, was the use of a "force constante" mechanism. Renowned watchmakers such as Harrison, Breguet, Dent and Richard to name but a few had concerned themselves with the constant force mechanism and the remontoir in their time."
Source: "Freunde alter Uhren" (Friends of Old Watches), Hans-Jochen Kummer, Ludwigshafen