Antique Borgel Cased Longines Pocket Watch

An antique Borgel cased Longines pocket watch.

The watch has a stem-winding movement which is ticking away nicely and the time keeping is good to within around two minutes over 24 hours. The movement has the Longines calibre number 18.79, together with the B&Co mark for Baume & Co (Alfred Baume was the UK importer for Longines). The Longines serial number is 2,805,616 which dates the watch back to 1912.

The watch comes in a gun metal case from François Borgel (his mark is inside the case back). Borgel patented the eponymous Borgel watch case in 1891, a real step forward in waterproof and dustproof watches cases, making pocket watch cases first and subsequently moving onto wrist watches as fashions changed.

François Borgel was a successful inventor and business man, and his business became one of the most important watch case manufacturers of its time. Early adopters of the Borgel screw case included Longines and the International Watch Co. (IWC). After François Borgel’s death in 1912, the business was carried on by his daughter Louisa.

This particular watch measures 45mm diameter excluding the winding stem and the loop. The back of the case has the initials HWBT, probably a previous owner. The case has some marking which is quite normal for an antique gun metal piece.

The watch glass and dial are both in nice condition with just a faint hairline crack to the sub seconds dial.

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All of our watches are checked over before listing, and are also checked for accuracy which is usually within around +/- two to three minutes over 24 hours (unless otherwise stated), which is considered respectable for a vintage watch.

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