Longines-Wittnauer Dress Watch - Gilt Linen Dial - Early 1960s

In 1872 a sixteen-year-old Swiss boy named Albert Wittnauer stepped off a boat in New York and went to work for his brother-in-law, an importer of Swiss watches. He saw the problem in the business at once. Import duties made a good Swiss watch a rich man's purchase in America, and Albert believed the country was full of men who deserved one anyway. In 1880 the firm became the exclusive American agent for Longines, and that same year Albert launched a line under his own name to sell beside it.

The two names never separated. The partnership ran for more than a century, and by 1936 it had become one company outright, the Longines-Wittnauer Watch Co., selling both brands from the same showcases and the same catalogs. In the 1950s and 60s a Wittnauer was often built so near its Longines sibling that little but the name on the dial set them apart. Watches from the Longines-Wittnauer era are highly sought after by collectors for exactly that closeness, Longines quality carried under the Wittnauer name.

The Wittnauer here comes from the early 1960s. Almost everything the house sold in those years wore a plain silvered dial, and those are what a collector finds today, rows of them in every search. A dial gilded and finished like this is the rare exception, and sixty years have thinned the survivors further.

The dial is gilt with a linen texture, a fine crosshatch cut like woven cloth that catches and scatters the light as the wrist moves. The winged W sits above the Wittnauer name, faceted gold dagger markers ring the hours, and gold dauphine hands sweep over it all. The seconds keep to their own small register at six, recessed and engraved with fine concentric circles under a crosshair. There is no second color anywhere on the watch, gold on gold on gold. The whole face has stayed sharp, the printing crisp and the texture unworn.

Behind the dial sits the Revue 76/3G, seventeen jewels, made by Revue Thommen, the Swiss house Wittnauer leaned on from its first years. The same caliber served Longines and other Swiss makers of the day. It runs and keeps good time. Its service history is unknown.

The case is 10k gold filled, reference 2010, made in America for Longines-Wittnauer and stamped with the company's name and its three cities, New York, Geneva, Montreal, inside the back. It shows scratches and surface marks from six decades of wear but remains in good condition. It carries a unique, period-correct gold-filled expansion bracelet, its links set with black enamel triangles, a design patented in the early 1960s. All of it is in the photographs.

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.

All sales final.