Longines Ultra-Chron 8301: 37 mm High-Beat, Crosshair Dial, Original Buckle (Fully Serviced)
A Longines Ultra-Chron 8301 is the steel high-beat automatic Longines sold from about 1970: round 37 mm case, silver crosshair dial, date at 3, Caliber 431 at 36,000 beats per hour. This example is in excellent condition, fully serviced, and comes with the original buckle.
What Ultra-Chron was for
Longines launched the line in 1967, the brand’s centenary, while the industry was racing to 36,000 bph. Period advertising called the Ultra-Chron the world’s most accurate wristwatch and guaranteed it to within one minute a month. Caliber 431 is an in-house automatic, 17 jewels, 5 Hz, adjusted in several positions. Dry molybdenum disulphide was used where ordinary oil would not survive the extra friction. The seconds hand glides. Quartz ended that race a few years later. A running 431 is the mechanical answer Longines fielded while the claim still mattered.
The 8301 case and dial
Reference 8301 is the steel version of this round case, about 37 mm across, 42 mm lug-to-lug, 18 mm lugs. The back is a screw-down, opened with a 12-sided tool. On this watch the dial is silver with a crosshair, applied square markers, and the Ultra-Chron name with the winged mark under the hands. The crosshair gives the eye a place to read the seconds hand on a wide face. Date sits at 3.
Condition for this Ultra-Chron 8301
Excellent. Case lines are still there. The dial is clean. The movement has been fully serviced by our watchmaker in Japan and is running properly. The original Longines buckle is included. The watch is shown on a blue strap.
Specification
Maker: Longines
Model: Ultra-Chron Automatic 8301
Era: circa 1970–1972
Case Diameter: 37 mm
Lug to Lug: approx. 42 mm
Lug Width: 18 mm
Case Condition: Excellent with all the original brush finish still available on the case
Dial: Brushed finished Silver crosshair dial with no aging at all, date at 3
Movement: Automatic Caliber 431, 36,000 bph, fully serviced by our watch maker in Japan
Buckle: Original Longines buckle
A vintage Longines Ultra-Chron 8301 in this state is a 37 mm high-beat dress watch you can wear: serviced 431, clean crosshair dial, original buckle in the set.
Comes with our selected blue suede straps.
