This will give you a fairly accurate date for pre-1969 models: After that, you will need to contact Longines. Brief history of the Longines Watch Company including watch production dates, serial numbers and calibers.

Longines serial numbers by year Is your chance to get a fair estimate of when your Longines watch was originally produced. You simply look up your serial number and place it in the shown table. Please have in mind that the time table for the Longines serial numbers is not 100% accurate but very close to +/- 1 years Dating back your vintage Longines watch by using the serial number is the most exact way to identify your watch.

May 21, 2011 Longines; Help to identify a Longines watch. Since it has a serial number on the back case beginning with 15 million 4xx xxx you watch probably dates. 1st Edition Base Set Cards here.

Ernest Francillon In the early 1800's Swiss watchmaking was truly a cottage-industry. Watches were produced using the 'etablissage' method, where individual tradesman working out of small studios or their homes would produce parts (or sub-assemblies) which were then assembled and sold under the auspices of a single brand. In 1832, Auguste Agassiz began selling etablissage-produced watches under the name 'Agassiz & Compagnie' and was particularly successful selling those watches in North America. In the 1850's, Agassiz passed control of his company to his nephew, Ernest Francillon.

Francillon wanted to modernize the production of watches and believed that bringing all the final assembly and finish operations together into one factory would be a more efficient method of production. To accomplish this, Francillon built a factory on a piece of land known as 'Les Longines' and the Longines brand was born. This method of production proved to be very successful, and by the early 1900's the Longines factory employed over 1000 people and had achieved worldwide distrubution and success with its products.

The Longines 'Winged Hourglass' (actually a winged clepsydra for those who care about such things) is the oldest registered trademark for a watch company, having been registered in 1880. The Winged Hourglass logo first appeared on Longines watches in about 1867. Longines - Wittnauer The A. Wittnauer Co. Became the exclusive sales agent for Longines in 1880, starting a relationship that would last for 114 years. In 1936, the Wittnauer Co. Was sold by the Wittnauer family and renamed the Longines-Wittnauer Co. Gameguard Game Hack Detected Overall there. , a name that became so linked in the minds of the public that most assume that Longines and Wittnauer watches are the same.