It’s odd how certain vintage watches have become celebrated classics, while others of comparable interest and iconic potential languish in relative obscurity. In the former category I include not just undisputed and universally known icons such as the Rolex Datejust and AP Royal Oak, but also models such as the Universal Geneve “twisted-lugs” Polerouter and the Omega “pie pan” Constellation, which have attracted a lot of interest over the years and about which there is a lot of information available online.
In this post I want to talk about a particular sub-type of the vintage Longines Ultra-Chron, which I believe represents the pick of the highly diverse bunch that is the hugely underappreciated and undervalued Ultra-Chron line. In Part 2, I will outline the differences between the several model references of this particular style that were produced, while in Part 3 I will summarise the diversity of dial and hand variations.
Longines - then and now
Longines, of course, should need no introduction. Founded in 1832 and the seventh oldest watch brand that can claim a direct lineage to its original founding, Longines has always had a highly distinctive, somewhat Art Deco inspired design language and was noted for its high-end, in-house movements as well as many innovative horological “firsts” right up until the quartz crisis of the 1970s. Its current brand positioning doesn’t really do justice to this heritage, however, a consequence of the Swatch Group’s rather arbitrary decision to place it below Omega in its own internal ranking scheme when it swallowed up Longines in 1983. Although Longines has experienced a bit of a revival in recent years and Swatch seem keen to gradually move it upmarket, the need to keep it playing second fiddle to Omega (exactly as Tudor does to Rolex) means that it will remain a shadow of what it once was, albeit strongly cast, in the foreseeable future.
Longines’ own spin on this (as evident from the current CEO Matthias Breschan’s words in this interview with Teddy Baldassarre) is that the brand “always has been in the price segment of $1000 - $5000” (whatever that means in a historical context!), and that its current market positioning is all about being “authentic”. While I completely agree that for the vast majority of people, including me, this price bracket represents an awful lot of money to pay for a wristwatch and that modern Longines provides a range of very high quality, attractive timepieces that represent outstanding value, I don’t buy this argument for the precise current positioning of the Longines brand. If history had played out differently and the fortunes of Longines and Omega after the quartz crisis had been reversed, you could have made exactly the same argument for Omega. But the current artificial market positioning of Longines (where it’s never allowed to trespass into Omega’s rarefied niche) can’t, or shouldn’t, retrospectively tarnish its lustre as the high-status, independent brand it was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, every bit on par with Omega, Rolex, IWC and others.
The Ultra-Chron: Longines’ uber-chronometer
The Ultra-Chron line was Longines’ last great contribution to in-house, functional horology. Competing directly with Omega’s chronometer-rated Constellation line, it was, in fact, far more innovative in pursuing accuracy though a 5Hz (36,000 bph, or 10 ticks per second) movement, only the third mass-produced watch to do this after Girard Perregaux’s HF line and Seiko’s Lord Marvel. Advertised as "the world's most accurate watch" and guaranteed accurate to a minute a month when it was released in 1967, the 431 calibre was the highly-strung Ferrari to Omega’s robust and sedate 550 series Daimler. Both also happen to be, in my opinion, among the most beautiful mass produced movements of their era.
The 431 movement has a date complication that clicks over instantaneously at midnight. It doesn't hack or have a true date quickset, but has a relatively speedy semi-quickset operated by turning the hands backwards and forwards between 10 pm and midnight. Properly serviced examples can still be extraordinarily accurate, with the added attraction of sounding like angry mechanical insects.
Around 1973, Longines replaced the 36,000 bph 431 movement in all Ultra-Chron models (including the ones being discussed here) with the 6651 and 6652 movements, which were almost identical other than being modified to beat at a more sedate 28,800 bph. In the chaotic world of the unfolding quartz crisis, it's likely that the more frequent service intervals required by these finely-tuned higher beat movements had become a commercial liability, while ultimate accuracy was now the domain of quartz.
Perhaps the reason that the Ultra-Chron hasn’t yet achieved the iconic status it deserves is the sheer diversity of case styles that housed the movements, making it hard to pin down a single “classic” model. From “c-shape” forms (very similar to Omega’s Genta-designed progenitor of that style), to classic round shapes with blocky, slab-like lugs, to rectangular cases and a few highly unusual and innovative designs such as the bluntly hexagonal ref. 8442, there was a plethora of Ultra-Chrons that rather blurred the identity of the line.
Pick of the bunch
I want to suggest, however, that there is one Ultra-Chron design that particularly deserves to be celebrated as a classic. This is represented by seven model reference numbers: 7950, 7951, 7952, 8300, 8301, 8302 and 8348. All of the watches with these references share the same basic case style, and it has taken a little bit of sleuthing on my part to figure out how they differ (see Part 2 of this blog). Notably (although possibly with some rare exceptions as I mention in Part 2), these are oversized or “jumbo” watches by the standards of their time – which means of course that they are a compact and fashionable size by contemporary standards. At 37 mm in diameter (not including the crown) and with a large dial relative to the case size, they are in exactly the same “Goldilocks” size bracket as Longines’ modern 37 mm Spirit and 38 mm Conquest ranges, while at the same time fitting the wrist much better due to a much more slender case profile (10 mm in height exactly, but only around 6 mm not including the domed crystal) and a restrained 42 mm lug-to lug measurement.
Like all classics, the strength of this design lies in balance, distinctiveness and coherence. Neither conservative nor extreme, the case shape combines a large dial space with convex surfaced, triangular lugs. It’s not quite a “c-shape”. Why? I had to think about this, and of course to some extent it’s a subjective call, but in the classic c-shape, the sides of the lugs have a more or less continuous curve that’s an extension of the curve of the case around the dial. In this case, however, the sides of the lugs are straight above and below the dial, even if they have the triangular form and convex surfaces of the c-shaped case. Also, the relatively large dial diameter relative to the case size is unlike any c-case watch I know of. Nonetheless there is a similarity, with the convex lug surfaces echoing the gently domed surface of the crystal, hinting slightly at the organic form of a flattish pebble. The overall effect is exactly half-way between the classical and the avant-garde – unique, but in a way that doesn’t look like it is.
The dials in all of these references have the same highly distinctive design, despite a few subtle differences in the hour markers, hands and minute tracks. All have almost square, block-like applied hour markers that slope upwards on their top surfaces towards a central ridge, like the pitched roof of a house. All have crosshairs on the dial, neatly interrupted by the Longines logo and applied winged hourglass motif at 12 o’clock and the faceted ultra-chron applied logo and text at 6. The 3 o’clock date window (I believe all models have the date complication) has an applied surround that in most, if not all, examples is slightly sculpted to be wider and taller at the outer edge, hugging and complimenting the sloped edge of the generously domed dial. These watches came in versions with and without lume – where there is lume, it is in the form of four pale green rectangular dots, each at the end of one of the crosshair arms and framed by a narrow box. These versions also have lume windows on the hands.
The design is generous, yet elegant and low-profiled, the crosshair dial with its distinctive hour markers making it instantly recognisable. It evokes the 1960s and, with its streamlined form and Longines branding, just a little bit of the modernist 1930s, while at the same time manging to look rather like a contemporary heritage-styled model (in no small part due to its relatively large proportions). The steel models appear to have been supplied with more than one type of bracelet, all of these being rather unusual and attractive in design.
Just as with the Rolex Datejust, the design of these watches is timeless, while the coherence of the overall design is nonetheless in balance with a range of different dial finishes and other variations that were available over the years, offering plenty of scope for the collector and creating genuine rarity in certain examples (see Part 2 and Part 3). This is a different watch from the Datejust, however - altogether slimmer and more refined (while at the same time being 1 mm larger and with significantly more dial space), it speaks of confident yet restrained luxury, and when worn as a vintage watch of a certain postmodernist blending of mid-century aesthetics. It's a watch that requires discernment to appreciate, and advertises this attribute in the wearer.
When I first discovered these watches I found the number of different reference numbers for what essentially looks like the same style to be rather confusing. There are also a number of different dial finishes, as well as subtle variations in dial furniture. Case materials included stainless steel, gold-capped steel and solid 18K yellow and rose gold. In Part 2 and Part 3 I will describe these differences, relating them to the model reference numbers where appropriate.
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