Longines Caliber L178

The Longines caliber L178 is a ladies size quartz movement with a small seconds subdial. As of 10/2024, the L178 is still being used in the brand’s current line of watches.

Base Caliber:

The L178 is basically an ETA caliber 980.153 with Longines branding printed on it. Please add a picture of the movement in your watch to the comments below, so that the community can compare different Longines branding locations.

Although the ETA 980.156 can technically use either a 379 or 317 size battery cell, Longines calls for a 379 with longer battery life.

L178 Vs L176:

There is a similar Longines caliber L176 which is based on the ETA 980.163. The main difference between these two is the distance of the small seconds hand from the center of the dial. The reason Longines uses one over the other would be based on the case dimensions and dial design (for example, on longer lug-to-lug watches).

Another difference is that the L178 has 11 jewels and the L176 has 15 jewels. The extra jewels are related to the gear train which moves the seconds hand further away from the center on the L176.

Additional Resources:

• Longines instructions manual (pdf)