106th Auction
2022/5/21
Lot 195
Longines
A remarkable, heavy observatory chronometer in a mahogany block case with copy of the N.P.L. Cert. (National Physical Laboratory) class A Kew certificate of 12/15/1933
Sold
This calibre, of which only 12 were made, was specially designed for observatory competitions. Apart from the enormous size of this movement, 65 mm(!), the most striking feature of this construction is that the finely finished escapement section is designed separately as a detachable assembly. The advantages of this concept are the improved handling of the precision regulation as well as the interchangeability of the components.
Only 12 prototypes were made and 11 of them took part in the "A" class, Chronometre de Bord, competitions at the Geneva Observatory and at the National Physical Laboratory in Kew, some of them several times. Our No. 300 was tested at Kew in 1932 and 1933 and twice achieved high scores with the results "especially good"; in 1933 with 95.60 points awarded position 13.