Serviced 1972 Vintage LONGINES NONIUS Chronograph 330 Valjoux 72 8271 Box watch

Having a love for complications and complicated watches, makes me love Chronograph watches. At first two register chronograph for simplicity of the dial and providing chronograph functionality for the most. Then the three-register chronograph for the complication of movement and the history of the movements, like of the iconic Omega Ref. 321, Ref. 861 (used in famous moon landing), Zenith El Primero, Venus mostly used in Breitlings, Landeron, and one of the most well-known movement makers Valjoux. With their famous Valjoux 72 put in the vintage Rolex Pre Daytona’s and of course the big dog Patek Philippe reference 2499 using Valjoux 88 my favorite which sold in auction for $3.30 Million in 2018.  I also love the Heuer Caliber 11 first micro automatic chronograph movement with date.

A Chronograph is simply a watch that combines the function of a stopwatch with a timekeeping display watch, by utilizing an independent sweep second hand. Chronographs often have complications on the face of the watch which can be used to record different time measurements, moon cycles, heart rate and more. Chronographs have usually have a separate buttons to stop, start, and reset (unless it is an monopusher) the stopwatch complication, with the start button typically at the two and four o’clock position.

The name Chronograph is derived from the Greek words ‘Chronos’ – the personification of time – and ‘graph’, meaning to write. The first modern Chronograph was created in 1816 by French watchmaker, Louis Moinet. Invented solely for use in union with astrological equipment, Moinet’s Chronograph could measure time accurate to 1/60th of a second – an unrivaled degree of precision at the time of its creation.

The Longines Nonius was a valiant attempt in the late 1960s to crack the elusive puzzle of making the chronograph ever-more accurate. Back in the late 1960s Longines came up with a distinctly odd take on chronograph accuracy. Named the Nonius, the watch had an additional gauge attached to the tip of the chronograph seconds hand to enable greater precision in reading a timing result. Just to confuse things, a “nonius” is a term used in English until the end of the 18th century to describe a Vernier scale. French mathematician Pierre Vernier invented his scale in 1631 while Pedro Nunes (Nonius in Latin) developed a somewhat different predecessor 90 years earlier.

To use technically precise terminology, Longines refers to the patented seconds hand (formally patented in 1971 as no. DE1673822) as “Nonius” second hand which allows accurate 1/10th second timing intervals through use of the Vernier principle. The Vernier scale (which you might find familiar from your middle or high school days) is where Vernier Calipers takes its name and is simply a device which allows the user to measure increments more precisely than could be possible when reading a uniformly divided ruler because it can measure between two indexes on a scale. As such, the Verniers scale is common in scientific tools like navigational sextants and laboratory micrometers.  Rather than a gimmick, maybe we should view the Longines Nonius as an homage, or, indeed, Olympic memorabilia.

This is a beauty. It is very rare to find a watch this old with  Longines box & Extract from the Archives. Defiantly a collector watch. Please look at all the pictures, as they are part of the description. The watch is working and Serviced. This is a highly collectible watch. Very few left with this rare movement. Sure, to increase in value overtime, and a great addition to your collection. The condition of the watch is the same as it appears in the photos.   The watch is working and is part of our new Certified Pre-Owned CPO.  Contact me if you have any questions first.