17,400 CHF
Longines Weems Longines for Wittnauer, Patent U. S.A, movement No. 6035478, case No. 21123,“Weems” second setting watch. Made in the 1930s. Fine and very rare, hour angle, large, indirect center seconds, "Staybrite " aviator's wristwatch. Four-body, massive, polished, hinged back, ball-shaped winding-crown, concave lugs, snap-on case back, additional sytem on the band to set the center dial time. Hinged Staybrite cuvette. White enamel with painted Breguet numerals, outer minute track, at the centre a revolving matte silver dial to adjust the time in seconds. Blued steel Breguet hands. 16 1/2’’’, rhodium-plated, 15 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, self-compensating Breguet balance spring, index regulator. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 47 mm. Thickness 17 mm. Notes The hour angle system was invented by Philippe Vanhorn Weems of the Annapolis Naval Academy, an authority in the 1920s and 30s. He trained the famous Charles A. Lindbergh, who set the record for the first non-stop transoceanic flight. This watch bears a large ball-shaped winding-crown, enabling the watch to be wound by a pilot wearing gloves. It is practically impossible to build a commercial timepiece which will keep time to the exact second under the conditions met in a ship or in an aeroplane. The unavoidable variation in the chronometer from true time necessitated an extra calculation in navigation to compensate for this chronometer error. Weems noted that in an airpla
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2010-05-08
