Don't miss the next drop
Engraved on the movement of this vintage Longines Conquest is the serial 12918092. The number dates the movement to the mid-1960s, and Longines can be more exact than that. The company has preserved historical information tied to its serial numbers since 1867, and an Extract from the Archives can still be requested against this one. It commonly records the caliber and the date the movement was invoiced, often naming the agent or country it was shipped to.
That same movement is stamped 291, the date-bearing member of a small Longines automatic family: the 290 told the time alone, the 292 added a power-reserve display, and the 294 combined a date with that reserve indicator. In this Longines Conquest 7171-2, the 291 drives the center seconds and the date at three, read through a magnifier in the crystal. Its balance runs at 19,800 beats an hour, and the caliber is rated for about 45 hours on a full wind.
The self-winding side was built with wear in mind. Longines cut the winding gear from beryllium bronze and gave the winding works large, slow-wearing teeth and levers that a watchmaker can adjust at a service to take up what wear there is.
On the silver dial, the applied batons are not all alike. The quarter-hour markers are wider and cut with several ridges, the others carry a dark channel down the center, and small round plots mark the hours. Beneath the winged-hourglass applique the dial reads LONGINES, Conquest and automatic, and at six it is signed T SWISS MADE T, the Swiss designation for a watch carrying a limited quantity of tritium.
Stainless steel and 36mm across, the case reaches 42mm from tip to tip on tapered lugs that curve down. The winged hourglass turns up again on the crown. Struck inside the caseback are the reference 7171-2 and a second number, 4535. Fine scratches and small nicks run across the lugs, flanks and back, the hands show mottling, and the dial and its hour plots carry a few small specks. It sits on an olive ostrich strap, and 12918092 is still waiting for someone to ask Longines about it.
