Movement record · Switzerland (Saint-Imier)
Longines calibre 30CH
Partially verifiedAn in-house column-wheel chronograph made by Longines itself rather than bought from a specialist ébauche house, with a flat, legible layout and a single register.
Technical specifications
- Diameter
- 29.8 mm
- Height
- 6.2 mm
- Jewels
- 17 jewels on standard examples
- Frequency
- 18,000 vibrations per hour
- Power reserve
- Approximately 40 hours
- Winding
- Manual winding
- Setting
- Crown setting
- Escapement
- Swiss lever
- Balance
- Jewelled, with Breguet overcoil on better examples
- Complications
- Chronograph with column wheel and lateral clutch, Thirty-minute register, Chronograph, Flyback
Identification features
- Signed Longines with the calibre number on the movement
- Column wheel visible under the chronograph bridge
- The movement features a flyback complication activated by the pusher at 4 o’clock.
Known variants
- 13ZN is the earlier related in-house chronograph calibre
Servicing notes
Parts are scarce and expensive; chronograph work on these movements should be entrusted to a specialist familiar with column-wheel work.
General guidance only. Antique movements should be serviced by a qualified watchmaker.
Historical significance
Evidence of Longines' standing as one of the few houses making its own chronograph movements in period rather than finishing supplied ébauches.
Introduced in 1947 by Longines, the caliber 30CH served as the successor to the earlier 13ZN movement. Manufactured in the Saint-Imier workshops, the movement features a traditional architecture and a flyback complication. The caliber remained in production until the 1970s, eventually being reorganized into the Calibre 530 and Calibre 538 in 1972.
The added history summarises the open references listed under Sources; each statement was checked against the cited passage.
Photographs
Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.
Sources & references
- Longines Caliber 30CH Watch Movement, calibercorner.com, retrieved 2026-11-04 (paraphrased; text © the publisher)
- Longines Calibre 30CH Flyback Chronograph (1947) | Technical Specs & History, contatorideltempo.it, retrieved 2026-11-04 (paraphrased; text © the publisher)
- Longines museum and heritage descriptions of its in-house chronograph calibres
- Production dates for individual calibre variants are recorded inconsistently across sources.
- de Carle, D., Watch and Clock Encyclopedia
- Period trade material catalogues and calibre reference compilations (edition-dependent)
- Published manufacturer technical documentation where available
Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.