This US-market Longines sits right on an interesting fault line in automatic watch movement history. On the wrist it reads like a classic early-1950s dress watch—gold-fill, sharp lugs, and an interesting 2-tone dial with roman numeral indices. However, the real reason I’m attached to it is the movement. The Longines 19AS is one of those interesting, transitional full-rotor automatics that still feels distinctly like it was “engineered,” with a unique winding system that doesn’t simply follow the later, cookie-cutter ETA-style playbook. It’s from a period when Longines was at the top of its engineering game and actively iterating on how best to translate rotor motion into consistent winding—right as the industry was leaving bumpers behind and converging on modern layouts. The resulting design, while not as efficient as later systems, was clearly built to be a lifelong companion, not a disposable fashion piece.

As we continue our exporation of weird and wonderful automatic movements, let’s take a look at the 1950s-era Longines 19AS. The 19AS sits in a wonderfully in-between moment in automatic watchmaking—when the industry was leaving bumper automatics behind, but hadn’t yet settled on the now-familiar reversing wheel architecture that would dominate later full-rotor designs. In this article, we’ll walk through assembly of the 19AS automatic mechanism step by step, using the process not just as a repair guide but as a tour of the movement’s thinking: how Longines packaged a modern, 360° oscillating weight into a layout that still carries transitional DNA. Along the way we’ll highlight the design choices that make the 19AS such an interesting—and frankly underappreciated—milestone: a practical, serviceable full-rotor automatic that hints at the future while still wearing the fingerprints of the bumper age.

This is a remarkably preserved vintage Longines dress watch powered by the Longines Caliber 370, freshly serviced and regulated and running beautifully. The overall impression is “near mint” in the best way: crisp dial furniture, clean case lines, and a movement that looks almost showroom-fresh for its age. If you like your vintage pieces to feel original rather than over-restored, this one lands right in the sweet spot.

This is a wonderfully honest mid-1950s Longines dress watch powered by the legendary Longines Caliber 23Z, freshly serviced and regulated and running with excellent performance. It is a watch for the true patina lover: the dial has aged into a heavy, mottled vintage texture that reads like parchment, giving the piece a one-of-one character that you simply cannot replicate.

This charming mid-1960s Longines takes the classic dress watch formula and gives it a subtle twist. It’s just been fully serviced and regulated, so you get the pleasure of winding a crisp 1960s Longines without worrying about what’s happening under the hood.

This 1950s Longines has developed a gorgeous honey-colored patina on the dial which really makes for a fantastic vintage look. Inside the 10K gold fill case is a beautifully made Longines 23ZS manual movement, so nice looking that it’s really a shame watches from this era didn’t have exhibition case backs.

This is a gorgeous 1955 Longines sub second manual with a tapisserie pattern dial. The dial, crystal, case and movement (a Longines 23Z) are all in excellent vintage condition. This watch screams “class” and is highly collectable.