Record gold watch at auction: a surprise movement

In his workshop in Wiesbaden, mechanical enthusiast and watch connoisseur Thomas Gronenthal has dismantled and reassembled watches from all over the world. Since childhood, he has been fascinated by everything that ticks. Today, the journalist, blogger and tinkerer is examining the vintage Record de Luxe watch.

Concentrating, he leans over his workbench and separates the case from the heart of the timepiece. When the movement is revealed, Thomas Gronenthal exclaims: "This is a real surprise!"

This watch did not contain a Record automatic movement, as he had assumed. "It's a Longines L633.1 movement - an ETA 2824!" The watch connoisseur takes a deep breath and adds: "It's also interesting that the plate is not marked, as is usually the case with ETA movements - the usual ETA hallmark is missing, which speaks in favour of a special production of this very high quality movement".

As is often the case, it is not easy to reconstruct the exact history of a historical product. The connoisseur's curiosity is aroused and he immediately wants to know more. At first glance, he notices that this watch has never been opened. "No watchmaker has ever touched it since it was made," says Thomas Gronenthal.

He immediately sets to work analysing the watch's parts and features. Which watch, which movement, which year, which origin? Like a puzzle, he puts all the pieces together and records them:

• The movement is a high-speed oscillator with 28,800 vibrations per hour.
• The stop-seconds, Triovis fine adjustment and chronometer balance are superbly executed.
• The case is 9 carat gold - 375
• The watch dates from the early 1970s, probably 1974. It is helpful to know about other movement editions to place it in time: the 2824 was released in 1971 and the 2824-2 in 1982.

Since there are several jubilee Record watches with a similar engraving, Thomas Gronenthal assumes that the watches were engraved directly at Record / Longines and delivered at the same time.

With this new information, Thomas Gronenthal can give the watch a face. And he recognises: "It has a special character, also because it refers to a specific moment in the history of Swiss watchmaking". He is referring to Longines. Record bought it in the 1960s. At some point, there were Record watches with Longines movements and Longines watches with Record movements.

The watch is a testimony to a time that unites the great watchmaking brands.