Longines Ultra-Chron - Cal. 431 - Sentimental Christmas Engraving - 1970

The dial on this Ultra-Chron presents beautifully with a rich amber honey tone. The gold filled cushion case with its characteristic flared lugs frames it cleanly, and the date sits inside a small porthole aperture. The combination of all of these features is luxurious and eye catching.

In 1970, the United States was at war and arguing about it at every dinner table. Nixon had sent troops into Cambodia in April and the campuses erupted. The Beatles had broken up in the spring. Hendrix was dead in September, Joplin in October. And the year before, Seiko had released the first commercial quartz wristwatch, a piece of news that had not yet fully arrived in the consciousness of the Swiss mechanical watch industry but would soon detonate it.

On Christmas Day in 1970 a woman named Adriane lovingly gave Bruce a Longines for Christmas.

What she could not have known is that she was buying one of the Swiss industry's most precise answers to the quartz challenge. The Cal. 431 beats at 36,000 vibrations per hour, among the highest-frequency automatic movements being produced in Switzerland at that moment, engineered to push mechanical precision to chronometer-grade accuracy through raw architecture rather than electronics. Longines had introduced the Ultra-Chron line in the late 1960s as its flagship precision statement, certified to run within two seconds per day across positions. It was not a compromise. It was a declaration.

Longines had been making movements in Saint-Imier since 1832, continuously and without interruption, longer than almost any other Swiss manufacture. That record at international chronometry competitions was not a marketing construction. It was a century and a half of accumulated credibility, and the Ultra-Chron sat at the top of it.

The outer caseback carries the Longines-Wittnauer and Star W.C. Co. stampings alongside 10K GOLD FILLED, the markings that placed it squarely in the American domestic market. Reference 2891-431 K, serial 6443830. The rotor is signed Longines. The inner caseback is engraved in flowing cursive: Bruce / Love / Adriane / 12.25.70. Christmas morning, 1970. That inscription travels with the watch.

Terms: Please review all photos carefully as they are a part of the listing. This is a vintage timepiece. Accuracy, power reserve, and water resistance are not guaranteed. Vintage watches may require periodic service. Performance can vary with wear, temperature, and position.

I am happy to service any unserviced watch listed on the site — please inquire about service charges when purchasing.

All sales final.L