Your opinions please:"Rolex" Marconi vs Longines "Calatrava"

[TimeAfterTime]

I am looking to buy a vintage watch in the Calatrava style. Please note, I realize that "Calatrava" is a Patek Philippe trademark and I am using it here simply to convey the style of watch I am looking for.

I have read two contradictory accounts of the Marconi - one account is that the Marconi was a special high end Rolex only sold in exclusive stores vs the other account which states that Marconi was a budget line of Rolex watches that were not sold by Rolex dealers. I am more inclined to believe the latter. Am I correct in this assumption?

Would I be better off buying a vintage Longines vs a Marconi?

[Dan S]

I'm not really sure exactly what you mean by Calatrava-style, TBH. Everyone uses the term in different ways, and sometimes it just means a simple round dress-style watch with narrow bezel.

Longines and Rolex/Marconi are two totally different animals, and comparing them is not straightforward, especially since you haven't even specified a general era that interests you. The relative market position of the two brands was very different 70-80 years ago than they are today. Overall, I don't think that the original marketing of Marconi is particularly relevant to their desirability today, and I'd say you should buy whatever appeals to you and gives you joy.

Personally, I really like vintage Longines, but I'm not sure what era and/or model line you are considering, so it's hard to provide much guidance.

[TimeAfterTime]

By "Calatrava", I mean the round style dress watch as you mentioned plus I like the small seconds sub-dial located at the 6 o'clock position. The time period I am looking at is in the range of 1945 to 1965.

[Dan S]

If mechanical quality of the movement is important to you, you might look at watches with Longines cal 30L, Zenith cal 135 (these will be more expensive in general), IWC cal 88, and Omega 30T2 (and cal 26X variants). You will find many excellent and beautiful watches from that era with small seconds sub-dials.

[MILGAUSS88]

This is simple.
The Marconi was never a Calatrava style of design. They stopped producing them in the 20s.
If you saw some watches that were marked Marconi that looked like a Calatrava, they were not made by Rolex.

Longines made some very austere watches that resembled early Calatravas.

[MILGAUSS88]

Here is an example of what I believe he is talking about.

[MILGAUSS88]

I would add they started calling these Calatravas so they could charge ridiculous sums of money for them.
They were hard to sell for more than $200 a few years ago.

[Dan S]

Originally Posted by MILGAUSS88

Here is an example of what I believe he is talking about.

Nice-looking watch, I'd speculate that it has a cal 12.68Z, or something similar.

[TimeAfterTime]

Originally Posted by MILGAUSS88

This is simple.
The Marconi was never a Calatrava style of design. They stopped producing them in the 20s.
If you saw some watches that were marked Marconi that looked like a Calatrava, they were not made by Rolex.

Thank-you. I did see some watches like that.

[TimeAfterTime]

Originally Posted by MILGAUSS88

Here is an example of what I believe he is talking about.

Yes, this is the type of watch I am looking for.