There are a couple companies that are remembered largely for their excellent chronographs. Universal Genève comes to mind, along with other greats like Vacheron Constantin or Gallet. People forget, however, just how good Longines’ chronographs were back in the day; most notably their 13ZN movement, made in 1936. Apart from their earlier developments, Longines continued to make top notch chronographs into the second half of the 20th century. And one of those was the Longines Nonius.
The Longines Nonius Chronograph
The story of the Longines Nonius starts with the release of the new Longines Caliber 30CH, which replaced the 13ZN in the mid-1940s. The first Longines Nonius, released in 1968, featured a modified 30CH movement, called the Longines Caliber 538 (also a flyback). The biggest difference between the original and modified movements was that there was no longer a sub-dial at 9 o’clock, this was instead replaced by the Longines logo. Now, the Longines Nonius was named after 16th century Portugese mathematician Pedro Nunes’ invention: the nonius. The nonius was a navigational tool and early version of the Vernier scale. As such, the removal of the sub-seconds at 9 o’clock was entirely intentional, as in its stead there was now a small scale on the outer dial (attached to the seconds hand), that could help the wearer time seconds down to 1/10th. So, just like Nunes’ and his original navigational tools, the Longines Nonius was a real tool watch.
Longines Nonius / Credit: Revolution Watch
A regular double register version of the Nonius chronograph was made in the early 1970s, although by then, Longines was already using third-party movements. Sadly, the Longines 30CH movement and its derivatives were the last in-house Longines chronograph movements produced. The long story of in-house chronograph production came to an end with this family of movements; the Longines Caliber 332, the successor to the 538, was derived from a Valjoux 72.
Ultimately, Longines’ current positioning in the market is a function of the Swatch Group managing so many brands. But in our world, that of vintage watches, it remains one of the top manufacturers of vintage chronographs. The Longines Nonius is just one of them.
By: Andres Ibarguen