BRAND/JENAMA: AUTHENTIC VINTAGE LANCO MILITARY GENTS WRISTWATCH
MADE IN/BUATAN: SWISS
CIRCA/TAHUN: 1940's
MODEL: MILITARY
CRYSTAL/CERMIN: ACRYLIC CLEAN / BERSIH TANPA CALAR
MOVEMENT/ENJIN: LANCO 15 RUBIES MANUAL MOVEMENT
DIAL COLOR: WHITE ENAMEL MILITARY WITH BLACK ARABIC MARKERS
FUNCTION/FUNGSI: HOUR, MINUTE AND SUB SECOND AT 3:00
HANDS/JARUM: BLUEN METAL PENCIL HANDS
MARKERS/TANDA WAKTU: BLACK ARABIC MARKER
CASING : STAINLESS STEEL/ KELULI
BEZEL: NONE
LUGS: 20mm
MEASUREMENT/UKURAN: 36mm DIAMETER WITHOUT CROWN and 40mm LUG TO LUG
DITANDA/ENGARVED BACK CASING: NONE
CROWN: SS/ KELULI
STRAP/TALI: GENUINE BLACK LEATHER MILITARY STRAP
SIZE STRAP/SAIZ TALI: 8.5"
DISCONTINUED MODEL, VERY VERY RARE HARD TO FIND, EXCELLENT CONDITION, KEEPING TIME
PRICE/HARGA: SOLD TO PAK UDA FROM SEREMBAN)
BRIEF HISTORY OF LANCO WRISTWATCH
Langendorf Watch Company was a Swiss watchmaker known for its fine craftsmanship and great attention to detail. Around 1890, it was probably the largest producer of watches in the world. The company produced watches in Langendorf, Switzerland for exactly a century, from 1873 to 1973.
The most famous brand of the company was Lanco (an abbreviation of Langendorf Watch Company) that was launched as a brand name in the late 1950s. The brand was discontinued in the late 1960s, and revived again from 1971 to around 1980.
Lanco
The "Lanco" brand was launched in the late 1950s. It soon became successful and known for fine craftsmanship and attention to detail. Lanco watches are still considered to be of very high quality, and they are traded today as vintage watches.
A number of Lanco watches are famous, such as the "Flying Saucer" or the "Lanco-Fon", a manual-wound watch with an alarm function that was released in the 1960s.
When Lanco was revived in the 1970s, more variety was added to the product line. It became a brand with room for innovation and experimentation, including into digital watches. Many of the 1970s watches were relatively large sized for their time and this make them sought-after today. Watches from the 1970s such as "Club 77" and "Jump Hour" are also still quite popular.
After 1973, a number of movements from other suppliers were used for Lanco chronographs, the most famous calibers stemming from Valjoux and Angelus. A Lanco watch with the futuristic Tissot Astrolon movement (caliber 2250) was also produced in the 1970s.
During SSIH's financial problems in 1981, the Lanco brand name was sold. As of 2012, it appears that new watches are being sold in South Africa with the name Lanco by S. Bacher & Company, but probably without relation to the Langendorf Watch Company.
After a merger with fellow Swiss luxury watch brand, Tissot in 1930, SSIH (Société suisse pour l'industrie horlogère) in Geneva, Switzerland was created as the new parent company of the newly merged watch companies. Fortunately, the merger between Tissot and Omega was a big success, which is why in a relatively short time the SSIH group grew to over fifty other companies including Lemania, Lanco and Hamilton. And in a relatively short period of time, the SSIH group has managed to position themselves as the third largest producer of luxury watches, as well as watch movements in the world.
It was during this time when SSIH produced a number of its most loved time pieces. Vintage Lanco watches that are still highly sought and are famous to this day.
During the Second World War, Lanco built a solid reputation for themselves by coming out with military and pilot watches for servicemen. They have always been known for their fine craftsmanship and their great attention to detail. Other popular watches from that era were the Lanco Fleightchrono, the Lanco Seamarine waterproof sports watch and the Lanco Fonalarm watches, which are all still incredibly popular.
During an economic downturn in 1980, Lanco found itself once again merging with another Swiss watch giant - ASUAG, which manufactures and produces other popular Swiss watches such as Swatch, Longines and Rado. The new company that emerged from this merger was called the ASUAG-SSIH company.
