EDWARDIAN 14KT GOLD ENAMEL LONGINES POCKET WATCH, Circa 1904, Ser No. 1,673,980, 17 jewel Swiss mechanical movement, solid 14kt gold stylized case embellished with floral form cobalt blue enamel throughout, monogrammed GSK on the back, mat gold finish sun ray dial with Arabic numeral hour markers, blued steel moon hands with subsidiary seconds. A very charming watch in good working order, would make an impressive gift or addition to any fine collection.
DETAILS:
- CASE SIZE: 45.70mm Diameter.
- WEIGHT: 49.9 Grams.
- CONDITION: Very clean time piece in excellent running condition.
BACKGROUND:
In the early 1800's Swiss watchmaking was truly a cottage-industry. Watches were produced using the 'etablissage' method, where individual tradesman working out of small studios or their homes would produce parts (or sub-assemblies) which were then assembled and sold under the auspices of a single brand. In 1832, Auguste Agassiz began selling etablissage-produced watches under the name 'Agassiz & Compagnie' and was particularly successful selling those watches in North America.
In the 1850's, Agassiz passed control of his company to his nephew, Ernest Francillon. Francillon wanted to modernize the production of watches and believed that bringing all the final assembly and finish operations together into one factory would be a more efficient method of production. To accomplish this, Francillon built a factory on a piece of land known as 'Les Longines' and the Longines brand was born. This method of production proved to be very successful, and by the early 1900's the Longines factory employed over 1000 people and had achieved worldwide distrubution and success with its products.

Very clean time piece in excellent running condition.