Longines Ultra-Chron
Longines Ultra-Chron
Released in 1967, one year after the Gyromatic, the Ultra-Chron’s special lubricant—molybdenum bi-sulphide—solved the friction issue that plagued the early hi-beat movements. Advertisements touted the Ultra-Chron’s accuracy to “within a minute a month.”
Brief History
Debuting in 1967, the Ultra-Chron was built to celebrate Longines’ centenary. With Girard-Perregaux’s Gyromatic debuting a year before and Seiko’s Lord Marvel around the same time, the Ultra-Chron was one of the earliest watches to operate at 36,000 bph at a time when the standard was just half that. When it debuted, Longines claimed in its advertisements that the Ultra-Chron was “the world’s most accurate watch,” and was guaranteed accurate to within a minute per month (or about two seconds per day).
The high-beat revolution didn’t catch on so much beyond the late ’60s and early ’70s, perhaps due to the growing ubiquity of the quartz watch, but the Ultra-Chron did remain in production well into the 1970s.
Notable Ultra-Chron Models
Reference 7970-5, was released in the late 1960s. The hi-beat Calibre 461 movement is housed in a cushion case surmounted with a Bakelite bezel in vibrant orange and black. Though rare, the Reference 7970-5 is not as rare as the manufacture’s other vintage diver—the SuperCompressor, Reference 7150-1
Features
- Case Diameter: 41mm
- Case Height: 12 mm
- Case length: 42 mm
- Lug Width: 22 mm
- Movement: Longines 431 automatic,25j, 36.000 bph, 39 hr power reserve,
- Case material: Stainless steel
- Crown: Non-screw down
- Bezel: Uni-directional indexed w/ 60
- clicks
- Water resistance: Not rated
- Vintage: '60s
