Welcome to the final part in a series of three articles focussing on the vintage Longines Ultra-Chron 37 mm “jumbo” models—the references 7950, 7951, 7952, 8300, 8301, 8302 and 8348 (see also Part 1 and Part 2).
Firstly, a reassurance. I’m aware that this series is very narrowly focussed (even more so than is usual for the Moonage Watches nerdscape), and that many readers (if I have any!) won’t be particularly interested in these specific models. Don’t worry—after this I’ll write about something completely different (and probably of more general interest). However, as online media on vintage watches increasingly takes a broad-brush approach, or else focusses on a small number of popular brands, I thought it would be useful to take a deep, detailed dive into one specific, neglected watch type about which almost nothing has been written. Completing it has been a bigger task than I had originally anticipated, with one article becoming two, and then three... But as Magnus Magnusson used to say—“I’ve started, so I’ll finish”!
Secondly, a qualification, prompted by some feedback I’ve received. These articles are not intended to describe the Ultra-Chron line in its entirety. Longines applied the Ultra-Chron label to a great many models in the 1960s and 1970s, and a comprehensive cataloguing of all references and variants would be a major undertaking. Rather, they deal with a specific style of Ultra-Chron watch (represented by the reference numbers above) that doesn’t have a name, but nonetheless has a distinct identity.
As a final aside, it's worth briefly speculating on the relationship between name and identity. Take that perennial reference point, the Rolex Datejust. It retains a recognisable visual style, from the first model released in 1945 right up to the ones in production today, despite significant changes over the decades to nearly every aspect of the watch, including the case design, the dial and hands, and of course the movement. But what makes a 16018 Datejust from 1990 and a rather different looking 5030 Datejust from 1950 the “same watch”, while a similar looking 18238 Day-Date from 1990 is “different”? More than the day complication or lack of it, it’s simply the name, “Datejust”. Although the design itself has identity and coherence, it’s the name that defines its boundaries. This particular example is somewhat ironic, given that the 5030 (pictured below on the left) often lacks the name "Datejust" on the dial. Nonetheless, it's a Datejust. (Image of 5030 courtesy of Amsterdam Vintage Watches, images of 16018 and 18238 courtesy of Watchfinder & Co.).
However, for the style of Longines watch we’re dealing with here, we just have a coherent visual identity. This never, unfortunately, had a name—at least not as far as Longines was concerned. I refer to these watches as the Ultra-Chron “jumbo” models based on their 37 mm case diameter (large compared to the standard +/- 35 mm size of most watches of this period, including most other vintage Ultra-Chrons), but this is really just because a name for the design itself is lacking. They could equally well be referred to as the 795x / 830x references (the 8348 being an honorary 830x).
Part 1 and Part 2 provided a general introduction and an overview of the different case references and designs. This part deals with dial and hand variations.
The basic template
It seems that the general dial configuration in these watches nearly always had the same basic characteristics, although different dial colours and finishes were produced. Several other subtle variations are also seen, representing slight modifications over the years, as well as possibly the independent implementations of the same design by different 3rd party dial manufacturers. The two images below (courtesy of Watchguy and SomeTimes) show the most common dial variant, in a steel 7951 and a solid gold 7950 respectively.
Although otherwise "standard", it's worth noting that the 18K 7950 above is highly unusual in being marked "chronometer" on the dial rather than "Ultra-Chron", and in having a movement engraved as being "adjusted to 4 positions and temperature". There were other Ultra-Chron chronometer references made later in the 1970s, but the designation is very rare in the 795x/830x references.
The two most obvious features of the dial style are the squarish, blocky hour markers with two upper facets that meet in a central ridge, and the “crosshair” design, with these being found in nearly all examples. Baton hands complete the look. As well as dial colour and surface finishing, other variations within the style include the presence or absence of a minute track, presence or absence of lume, the style of the date window surround, the exact shape and finishing of the hour markers, the precise style of the hands, and the finishing of the rehaut (i.e. the slightly sloping ring around the periphery of the dial, beneath the crystal).
Minute markers
Some of these watches have minute tracks, while on others there are no minute markers at the edge of the dial between the applied hour markers. Although examples without minute markers seem to be much more common in the 795x references than in the 830x ones, there doesn’t seem to be an entirely consistent pattern, and many 795x watches do have minute tracks. It’s notable that in the 1970 Japanese catalogue all of the 795x watches pictured lack minute tracks, while in the 1972 catalogue, featuring the 83xx models, minute tracks are universally present. Could the minute track have been introduced half way through, or towards the end of, the production of the 795x references? In support of that, here is an example of a 7951-2 without a minute track (image courtesy of Mitka), for comparison with the otherwise identical 7951-3 above, which has a minute track.
Admittedly, my own 7951-3 (see below) lacks a minute track, although this might be compatible with the change having occurred during production of the 7951-3 batch. Nonetheless, I have seen at least one 7951-1 (the earliest batch) with minute markers. Although this watch may very well have a swapped or service dial, the chronology of this variation must for the time being remain somewhat uncertain. Unfortunately, research into the precise timeline of these models based on online images is hampered by the need to see the inside of the caseback to determine the batch number.
Lumed and non-lumed variants
It seems that lumed and non-lumed variants of what were otherwise the same dials were available throughout the production run of these models. The lumed dials (see images above) have a highly distinctive lume dot pattern. The dots are rectangular and there are only four of them, set inside the quarter hour markers and enclosed by tiny lined boxes that terminate the dial cross-hairs. The 3 o’clock lume dot is set slightly further inwards than the other three to allow for the date window. It’s an unusual design that adds to the character of these references.
In non-lumed models, as pictured below, the four lume dots are lacking and the cross-hair lines are simple and unelaborated. Just as with lumed watches, there are examples of non-lumed dials with and without minute tracks. Lumed models have hands with lume windows, while non-lumed examples have plain steel or gold hands.
The “extract from the archives” for my own non-lumed 7951 (above) states that it was supplied to the Hattori company, Longines’ agent in Japan. It’s well-known that lume (even tritium) was generally shunned in Japan during this period due to its radioactivity, and other brands such as Rolex are known to have produced special non-lumed variants for the Japanese market. The available Japanese Longines catalogues from 1970 and 1972 show exclusively non-lumed watches. While it’s likely that watches of this style sold in Japan were all non-lumed, it’s not clear whether all watches sold outside of Japan were lumed (i.e. if the non-lumed variants were exclusively made for the Japanese market). The latter seems plausible, as non-lumed examples are somewhat less common (although perhaps not to the same extent that non-lumed Rolex variants are).
Date windows
I haven't seen any 795x/830x watches without the date complication. In some other Longines Ultra-Chron models made during this period, however, non-date versions exist (based on the 430 movement rather than the 431), and tend to be much rarer than the date versions. It's not impossible, therefore, that some non-date 795x/830x were made.
Most of these watches have the "sculpted" applied surrounds to the date windows described in Part 1 that seem somewhat Art Deco inspired (as is quite a lot of Longines' vintage aesthetics, even in the 1960s and 1970s). However, examples with more conventional rectangular date window borders seem to occur fairly frequently, especially in later 830x references. Was this an intentional variation, or perhaps just a random consequence of parts availability? The applied metal surrounds were likely interchangeable between different Longines models with the 431 movement and there were many Ultra-Chron models that had rectangular surrounds as standard. It seems likely that they were simply used as substitutes on some occasions, especially towards the end of the production run of these references when the quartz crisis was starting to bite.
Dial colours and finishes
As with many watches of this period, the most common dial finish is a silver sunburst. These particular dials are often unusually beautiful “in the metal”. Whether due to a subtle patina acquired over half a century, or to diffraction created by the particular microscopic texture of the sunburst pattern, they vary from a pearly silver-white to a distinctly golden sepia tone when direct sunlight catches them at an angle. This combines with the pronounced doming towards the edge of the dial and the gently domed acrylic glass to create a very elegant aesthetic, distinctly of its period.
A few gold watches have gold dials, and others appear in photographs to have champagne dials (see image from SomeTimes above), although it's possible these could be aged white-silver dials, with the gold case colour bringing out the champagne tones.
Another fairly common dial colour usually appears to be black in photographs, but is generally described as grey. I haven’t handled a watch with one of these dials in person, but in available online videos it appears to be a silvery grey-black colour, again with a sunburst texture, and appearing a little darker or lighter depending on the angle of the illumination. As with the silver sunburst dials, they seem to have been produced throughout the lifetime of these models. The dial furniture, hands and dial markings are identical to those found on the silver dialed models (image courtesy of The Wrist Watcher).
Finally, we have the fascinating confetti dials. I’ve written at length about this dial style elsewhere so won’t repeat all of that information here, but suffice to say that when used in Longines watches, these have a dark reddish brown appearance from a distance that resolves into a finely speckled pattern close-up. They can appear chocolate brown, deep burgundy or even almost black in photographs depending on the lighting. At least some of them were made for Longines by Beyeler, as were the nearly identically finished ones used in some Rolex and Girard Perregaux watches of this period. I’m only aware of these three brands using confetti dials of precisely this type. These “brown” confetti dials are found in some Rolex yellow-gold Day-Dates, a rare Girard Perregaux 36,000 bph chronometer variant, and the Longines Ultra-Chron reference 7828, as well as in the Ultra-Chron references we’re discussing here. The “black” confetti dials seem to be unique to steel Datejusts and Rolex Day-Dates in white gold.
I believe that the 7951 and 8301 references may be the only examples of steel watches to sport brown confetti dials as an option, and as they seem to be not uncommon, they are almost certainly the easiest and most affordable way to obtain one of these dials (along with the gold-capped 7952 and 8302 references). In other brands, as well as in other Longines models, they tend to be less common options associated with solid gold watches.
Hands
The “standard” hands for these models are of a simple baton style in polished steel or gold with squared-off tips and a gentle ridge in the middle (complimenting the form of the hour markers). The design is almost identical to the baton hands used in most Rolex Datejusts from the 1960s on. The version for lumed dials has narrow lume windows starting about half way towards the tip and ending just before it. .This style (including lumed and non-lumed versions) is the most common, although a few rarer variations seem to have been produced at various times.
Firstly, quite a few non-lumed 795x watches have pointed hands—rather than being squared off at the tips, they terminate in short, blunt points. They seem to be otherwise identical to the square-tipped non-lumed hands. My own silver dialled 7951 (pictured above) is of this type. I might have assumed that such hands were replacements or had been swapped from another style of watch, except that pointed hands can be seen in both the 1970 and 1972 Japanese catalogues. Perhaps the earlier non-lumed watches for the Japanese market had pointed hands, while later ones were changed to a squared-off style to better match the lumed hands found outside of Japan. What’s clear, however, is that both pointed and square-ended non-lumed hands of this type can be correct for non-lumed dials.
Isolated examples can be found online of 795x/830x watches with other styles of hands. It’s very difficult to be sure if these are correct for these models, however (i.e. rare variants), or if they have simply been swapped. In most cases, I suspect the latter.
There is one other hand style that is certainly correct, however, and that seems to be associated with the variant I describe below—the “flat-top”.
The flat-top
While the majority of 795x/830x Ultra-Chrons have the same style of dial (irrespective of colour) with exactly the same dial furniture, some rarer versions were produced. The most distinctive of these is what I call the “flat-top” variant, after the profile of the hour markers. This seems to have been produced only in solid 18K gold (or at least I haven’t seen any convincingly original examples in other case materials), with the dials and hands possibly made by Beyeler as an up-market option for gold watches produced in and after 1970. This means that they include the 8300 and 8348 references, but apparently not the earlier 7950 (see Part 1 for the timeline of these case numbers). Versions were made in both yellow gold and Longines' subtle version of rose gold. It appears that not all 8300 (and possibly not all 8348) watches used this style, however, with some retaining the "standard" style that was used in the solid 18K 7950 (see image from SomeTimes above).
The hour markers in the flat-top, rather than having a sharp ridge on the summit, have a narrow, flat “stripe” that is differentiated in either texture or colour from the rest of the blocky gold marker. On confetti dials this stripe is textured with very fine parallel lines, while on white-silver dials it is painted black. The hour markers are also slightly taller, with higher vertical sides.
As well these subtly different hour markers, the flat-top variant has a slightly different style of hands, and often also a rehaut that is colour coordinated with the dial rather than with the case. The hands entirely match the hour markers, being slightly chunkier and with channels running their entire lengths that have a complimentary texture or colour (black infill or fine engraved lines). These channels are interrupted by lume windows towards their tips (I haven’t seen any non-lumed versions of this variant). This consistent application of the same style for such tiny details is remarkable, and really demonstrates how finely these particular watches were designed and made.
The colour coordinated rehaut further reflects this attention to detail. In the 795x/830x “jumbo” references generally, the dial itself is much the same size as the dials in other Ultra-Chron models, which mostly had smaller 35 mm cases. But to fill in the space between the dial and the slightly wider 37 mm case in the jumbo models, a rehaut is fitted above and around the dial. In the standard variant, this is silver coloured or gold coloured to match the case metal. In the flat-top variant, however, the rehaut is often (but not always in the 8348) finished to match the dial—either pearly silver-white, or with a “confetti” texture. Visually, this has the effect of making the rehaut more part of the dial rather than part of the case. The illusion is created of the dial being slightly larger, and the sides of the case slightly narrower—altogether more refined.
Although this is speculation, my suspicion is that the flat-top variant was Longines’ attempt to put the solid 18K jumbo Ultra-Chron on a different level of in terms of quality and create a truly exclusive product. It was a short-lived experiment (perhaps only lasting a couple of years), and possibly represented the “last gasp” of the period in which the absolute best watches made by the brand were mechanical rather than quartz. As the new decade of the 1970s progressed, the catalogues of most watch brands started to list quartz models at the tops of their ranges, with mechanical watches increasingly relegated to the middle pages. This was often accompanied by a reduction in the quality of finishing in the mechanical ranges, even if the same movements and basic case designs were used. We see this very clearly with King Seiko, where the 562x models lost their gold case back medallions and successive references became increasingly more utilitarian. Similarly, almost as soon as the flat-top Ultra-Chron jumbo variant was introduced, it probably became commercially impractical. These are thus rare and special watches, and, in my personal opinion, almost astronomically undervalued.
Other rare variants
Because relatively few of these watches were made and are still extant, it’s quite difficult to know what other rare variants might have been produced, because even when these appear to turn up it’s not certain whether they are “frankenwatches” or genuinely left the factory in that configuration. As I type this, there is an 8301 listed for sale on eBay with very narrow gold hour markers and a sculpted gold date window (the latter in the same style as in most of the 795x/830x dials). I’m pretty sure, however, that the dial has been swapped from a 7852 Ultra-Chron (a 34 mm model with an interesting rounded-square case design). Because the dials in the 795x/830x references are sized for the movement and use a rehaut to fill the space between the dial and the case, it's quite possible to use a dial from a completely different 34 or 35 mm Ultra-Chron model in a 795x/830x case. In this particular instance the combination is rather attractive, but I very much doubt it is original.
In photographs, a few dials appear to have hour markers that are slightly more longly-rectangular than the standard ones, while otherwise appearing identical (these watches should not be confused with the Ultra-Chron 782x references however, which superficially resemble the 795x/830x models and have similar markers, but are 35 mm watches with slightly different lug profiles). These longer markers may be a another late-production variation, although the distinction is rather subtle.
I have also seen a watch with large roman numerals in place of the usual applied hour markers, and an entirely different style of narrow baton hands. I have no idea whether this is a very rare variant or a frankenwatch. It has a certain coherence of design, but until other examples turn up I reserve my judgement on this one.
That's it folks!
If you have accompanied me all of the way on this journey, I hope that some of my enthusiasm for these watches has rubbed off. I really do think that both functionally and in terms of design aesthetics, the 795x/830x Longines references are rivals for any mass-produced, three-hand daily-wearer watch produced during this period (and that includes the Rolex Datejust). It's a classic that deserves to be an icon.
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