[Watch House, Watch Chairs] This year seems to be a different year. Although many brands have been replica and commemorative models in the past every year, this year, several brands coincidentally trace their history back to 1957, so this year has become the 60th anniversary celebration of many watches. What is more worth mentioning is that these watches are very famous, such as Omega's Two Pokers and One Horse (Iron Ba, Speedmaster, Haima), such as the military flag of Longines . In fact, this year is also the 60th year of Tudor Advisor's watch, but Tudor's boss promoted Qicheng Biwan, so let's not talk about it for now. The protagonist of today is Longines Military Flag. I first heard of this series. It was from a friend several years ago. She had just gotten married not long ago. She usually wore a Longines Military Flag series steel bracelet watch. Her husband also had a Longines Military Flag watch. Two were couples and a wedding gift from a friend when she got married. The reason why I remember this is that it is not common to give couples watches as wedding gifts. Another reason is occupational disease (I felt that there was no cure at that time).
Longines Flagship 60th anniversary watch
So I was curious, so I took it and took it for a simple look. To be honest, I was not very good at it, so I didn’t pay much attention. Later, I checked this series and found that many people liked it. Today, if you go to the official website to check the military flag series, you will find a very interesting phenomenon. The replicas of the military flag series are all left in the classic replicas, while the independent military flag series is still very elegant, and the essence still has the shadow of the military flag of that year. However, the "Flagship" mark has been cancelled, and the bottom cover does not have the warship that is moving forward vigorously in the waves, but the bottom cover is transparent.
This year marks the 60th year of the military flag series. To this end, Longines has launched a 60th anniversary edition of the military flag series, which is very beautiful. First of all, it is a small three-needle design, which is exactly the first point of the military flag; secondly, Logo is a three-dimensional mark; thirdly, the hour mark is not only three-dimensional, but also the eight hour marks are multi-faceted shuttle marks, which are very luxurious; fourthly, the "Flagship" mark is also very classical; fifthly, the case is densely bottomed, and the bottom cover is painted with a warship pattern again, chasing the source of the Zongshuoyuan. Of course, there is another very important point. The case size is 38.5 mm, which is just right. This represents the right hand, of course, very beautiful, charming, and the plate is very clean, so from the perspective of daily life, this watch is more worthy of attention than the continuous drawing time angle.
Many people are familiar with modern military flags, but I think the military flag series is a very interesting watch. In 1957, in the golden age of mechanical watch development, the military flag was a relatively comprehensive high-end watch that Longines entered high-end watchmaking. The reason for this is that its movement configuration is high, but it also includes two options: steel and precious metals. At that time, it was generally believed that only watches that used precious metals were luxurious, and this tradition lasted for decades. During this period, most complex watches used precious metals, and high-end brands certainly valued gold. Longines also launched many 18K and 14K gold watches during that period, but I want to say more than that. In addition to the precious metal case, the dial is even a gold plate, which is different.
Gold shell, gold chain, gold plate Longines military flag watch
No matter what era it is, the pocket watch period, the heyday of watches and the modern times, gold dials are all high-end elements that cannot be ignored, and of course we can also see the glory of that golden era of mechanical watchmaking. In my impression, some watches of Vacheron Constantin , a very small number of flagship models of Omega Constellation, and some artistic watches would use gold plates. Although Longines was a big watchmaking brand at that time, its positioning was not in competition with those high-end brands. It may have this ambition, so the Longines military flag series equipped with gold plates shows its special features. I was impressed by this because Flagship can actually be translated as a flagship, and there are three stars on the dial Flagship logo. So when such a precious metal watch is equipped with a gold plate, I think in terms of appearance, in addition to diamonds, it is already extremely luxurious.
Warship bottom cover
Although in fact, Longines' Concas also had such a flagship watch at that time, the Flagship plus three stars gave people a sense of high-end like a Samsung flagship. In today's antique watch market, you can still find the gold disc model of Longines Samsung flagship. The price is not high, more than 20,000 yuan. The military flag with good quality of ordinary K gold case only comes out 10,000 yuan, and the steel shell costs several thousand yuan, so the antique military flag is a good price-performance play piece. But these watches are the originator of modern military flags, so they are quite interesting.
Promotional poster at that time
The reason why the military flag series was said to be relatively high-end was because from several perspectives, in terms of design, we saw that the antique watches of the military flag series include modern watches, mostly using three-dimensional metal inlaid scales, and the dial has a more three-dimensional feel; secondly, the flying wing hourglass logo is mostly metal inlaid, which is very specific; thirdly, the dial is very clean and neat, and generally does not have too much decoration; fourthly, the bottom cover draws a warship. To sum up, the design is very simple, classic, timeless and representative elements. Such a watch is easier to continue, and the use of high-end materials can give people the feeling of a famous watch.
30L movement
So in terms of movement, it is the leader of Longines' new technology. In 1955, Longines developed the famous basic manual movement - 30L. The movement had a vibration frequency of 18,000 times per hour, 30 mm in diameter, and 17 drills. Some of them were improved and participated in the observatory competition at that time. This movement was produced until 1967. In 1957, Longines used this movement in a newly launched watch series - Flagship. This movement is designed with a small three-pin, with a very coordinated proportion and very beautiful. In 1958, Longines modified the 30L movement and increased the vibration frequency to 21,600 times per hour. But not everyone likes small three-needle, so Longines also developed a large three-needle movement 30LS, and it was used in the military flag series around 1956.
340 movement
1960, Longines developed a very meaningful automatic winding mechanical movement - 340 movement. This movement uses Qi Nianhua's ball bearing automatic winding structure. At that time, it broke through the pin-rod winding mode, but it has not yet advanced to the current winding structure. Although the ball bearing is in the middle, the automatic rotor is connected to a geared ring at the bottom. Therefore, the winding sprocket train is not located next to the bearing as it is now, but has another position. This is like a combination of the automatic winding structure between the ball rotor and the outer edge of the Baoqilai. Unlike the 30L movement, this movement also uses a larger balance wheel, so the shape of this movement is a bit strange. Subsequently, based on this movement, Longines developed movements such as 341/342/343/345/351. The movements based on 340 use large three-pin, and different movements add some different functions. These movements all appear in the military flag series, and are also common core types of Longines' existing antique military flag series watches.
1957 to 1970, it should be said that it was the peak of the military flag series. After that, the arrival of the quartz storm forced Longines to start mass production of quartz watches. The military flag also changed its previous design and launched many different appearances and quartz watches. During the subsequent group reorganization and ETA exclusive movement, the military flag basically lost its former glory. This year, Longines launched the 60th anniversary of the military flag series. Its design and the warships appearing behind it reminded me of the Longines military flag with golden shells and faces I had seen before, and I sighed. The brand new military flag commemorative watch is classic, elegant and face-like, inherits the essence of the military flag's golden decade design and is a beautiful watch. (Photo/Text Watch House Wu Yibing)
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