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

A Chronograph is simply a watch that combines thefunction of a stopwatch with a timekeeping display watch, by utilizing anindependent sweep second hand. Chronographs often have complications on theface of the watch which can be used to record different time measurements, mooncycles, heart rate and more. Chronographs have usually have a separate buttonsto stop, start, and reset (unless it is an monopusher) the stopwatchcomplication, with the start button typically at the two and four o’clockposition.

The name Chronograph is derived from the Greek words‘Chronos’ – the personification of time – and ‘graph’, meaning to write. Thefirst modern Chronograph was created in 1816 by French watchmaker, LouisMoinet. Invented solely for use in union with astrological equipment, Moinet’sChronograph could measure time accurate to 1/60th of a second – an unrivaleddegree 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 thisold with  Longines box & Extract from the Archives. Defiantly a collector watch. Please look at all thepictures, as they are part of the description. The watch is working andServiced. This is a highly collectible watch. Very few left with this raremovement. Sure, to increase in value overtime, and a great addition to yourcollection. The condition of the watch is the same as it appears in thephotos.   The watch is working and ispart of our new Certified Pre-Owned CPO. Contact me if you have any questions first.