$15,340
Silver Weems Longines, “Weems”, movement No. 4931593, case No. 4931593. Made in the 1930s. Fine and very rare, hour angle, large, center seconds, silver aviator's wristwatch. Four-body, massive, polished, hinged back, ball-shaped winding-crown, additional stem on the band to set the center dial time, hinged silver cuvette, rounded bezel, concave lugs. White enamel with painted black Arabic numerals, outer minute track, at the centre a revolving matte silver dial to adjust the time in seconds. Blued steel Breguet hands. Cal. 18.69N, rhodium-plated, 15 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, bi-metallic balance, self-compensating Breguet balance-spring, index regulator, adjusted to three positions. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 48 mm. Thickness 15,5 mm. Property of Various Owners Notes The hour angle system was invented by Philippe Vanhorn Weems of the Annapolis Naval Academy, who was 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 airplan
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2007-12-05
