A a rare, manual-wind Longines solid 14k yellow gold watch. This watch features a lovely design and classic tank case shape. From the outside, it simply looks like many other tank shaped wrist watches from the 1950s. However, the case steps up into the lugs, and the watch is powered by a Swiss-made manual wind caliber with 22L movement.
The watch is in excellent condition throughout with an unpolished case, and original very rare herringbone pattern dial.
If you are looking for a conventional watch with a twist, it is quite hard to beat this lovely little piece.
- 26 X 36.5mm Case Diameter
- Model Number: A86688
- Manual Wind 22L
- Serial Number:8 251812
- Made in Switzerland in 1951
- Comes With Foundwell 1-Year Warranty
- Style Number: FWW1496
25\", meaning that this dial has applied Tritium luminous material. This material replaced the highly dangerous and radioactive Radium in 1963. Just like radium, tritium was also radioactive; however, it came with a much lower level of radiation and a much shorter half-life. While tritium was exponentially safer than radium, it only had a half-life of twelve years. This meant that after just a few decades, only a tiny fraction of the initial luminescence would remain. Additionally, as tritium ages, the color changes, which creates often beautiful, and highly sought after patinas on the luminous markers on these older Rolex watches. Tritium was far from perfect, which led Rolex to search for a better alternative.\nThe answer came during the 1990’s, from a Japanese company called Nemoto and Co., which specialized in producing luminous paint. Their new compound, called Luminova, was photoluminescent rather than radioactive, making it entirely harmless. Additionally, it was not prone to fading or discoloration like its predecessor, tritium. Luminova was far superior to tritium, and by 1998, Rolex began using it on their watches. These are now rare and collectible, as the production run was around two years, and are marked simply \"Swiss\". By 2000, Rolex had switched to Super Luminova, a slightly improved version of Luminova that was sold through a different supplier. These dials were marked \"Swiss Made.\"\nThe watch is powered by a Rolex, Swiss made, twenty seven jewel automatic calibre 3035 movement that powered the majority of all Rolex models since its launch, from the Datejust to the Submariner. Among a number of improvements was the extension of the power reserve form the caliber 1570 from forty two hours to fifty, made possible thanks to a fast-rotating barrel. It is regarded as one of the best calibers produced by the company, and testament to that is the fact it remained in use for around twelve years.\n\nThe case is in excellent condition, very lightly polished, showing solid chamfers and thick lugs, rare with watches from this period. The bezel insert is correct and original to the watch. The pip set in the arrow at the sixty minute mark has already turned a warm coffee colour, and looks great sitting atop the watch. The bracelet is correct for the model; marked 93150 with 501B end links. It is in very good condition with only slight stretch, with diver extension, and three removable links. The bracelet is a slightly later example with a date code of “U”2 from 1997.\n\nOverall, this is an excellent watch, in very good, strong condition. The beauty with these \"Neo Vintage\" models is that they will only get better over time. This example is already seeing the lume plots turn slightly into a very light coffee colour.\nAs the new models have grown in size, include the engraved rehaut and the new bezel inserts, these earlier models are just looking better with every passing year. The watch has undergone a full service from a Rolex service center, and will come with the invoice from service."}" data-sheets-userformat='{"2":13249,"3":{"1":0},"9":1,"10":1,"11":4,"12":0,"15":"Arial","16":10}'> Because this watch is a vintage, one-of-a-kind piece, all purchases are final sale and excluded from any promotions.
