Vintage Longines Pocket Watch 1097-4 Cal. 847 Circa 1970s Serviced UK Warranty

SPECIFICATION

Reference: 1097-4
Movement: Cal 847.4
Age: circa 1976
Case Size: 41mm
Case Thickness: 7mm
Condition: used Longines Pocket watch
Box & Papers: papers only
Case Material: Stainless Steel
Warranty: 12-Months Warranty UK only

POINTS TO MENTION

• In lovely pre-owned condition, with light wear from use
  
• Clean time-only dial layout
• Longines chain
• Fully serviced manually wound movement
• Signed Longines crown
  

THE WATCH

The Longines reference 1097 belongs to an interesting period in the company’s history when the traditional pocket watch was becoming increasingly uncommon, yet Longines continued to produce elegant mechanical examples. Rather than being an early-20th-century pocket watch, this is a much later piece from the 1970s, giving it quite a different character from the Victorian and Edwardian watches normally associated with the format.

At the heart of the watch is the Longines calibre 847.4, a particularly slim manually wound movement. It has 17 jewels, runs at 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz) and has a power reserve of approximately 40 hours. One particularly interesting feature is its thickness: the movement is only around 2.5 mm thick, which allowed Longines to produce remarkably slim watches and pocket watches during this period.

The calibre 847 family wasn't restricted to pocket watches. Longines also used the 847.4 in a variety of slim wristwatches during the 1970s, including conventional round watches and more adventurous case designs. That makes the movement quite an interesting example of Longines using the same thin mechanical architecture across several different styles of watch.

LONGINES AND THE RETURN OF THE POCKET WATCH

By the end of the 1960s, the pocket watch was no longer the everyday necessity it had once been. Wristwatches had long since become the dominant way of carrying time, yet changing fashions created a small but fascinating revival of interest.

The mid to late 1960s saw a return to expressive menswear, including three-piece suits, waistcoats and increasingly adventurous formal tailoring. This transformation became known as the “Peacock Revolution”. A slim pocket watch could once again form part of that look, although the large and often substantial pocket watches of previous generations did not always suit the cleaner lines of the era.

Longines’ approach was distinctly modern. Rather than recreating a traditional pocket watch around a large movement, the company used the compact calibre 847.4 within a slim, purpose-designed case. The result retained the character and ceremony of carrying a pocket watch while feeling unmistakably contemporary.

There is a pleasing historical irony to its construction. The wristwatch had evolved from the pocket watch, yet several decades later Longines effectively reversed that journey, placing a wristwatch-sized movement inside a fashionable new pocket-watch design.

OUR THOUGHTS

There is something wonderfully contrary about this Longines. By the 1970s the wristwatch had long since replaced the pocket watch, yet Longines returned to the format with the reference 1097-4, pairing traditional pocket-watch elegance with the beautifully slim calibre 847.4.

It is a fascinating piece from an unexpected period of pocket-watch history and a reminder that fashion rarely travels in a straight line. The pocket watch hadn't disappeared — it was simply waiting for its moment to return.