The current diver market is dominated by vintage looks, a trend that was started by Longines Legend Diver back in 2007. The watch has stood the test of time and Longines didn’t play around with the aesthetics by bringing in changes. The world wad drifting towards bronze cases in diver’s watch, take the example of Oris’ Carl Brashear watch. The latest release from Longines changes everything as it too has introduced a bronze watch with appealing colour palette. The watch strikes a fine balance between modernity and vintage looks and doesn’t depart from the characteristics that had set the watch apart way back in 2007.
The watch shares the same 42mm case design from its stainless steel sibling alongwith those dual crosshatched crowns and long narrow lugs. In short all the aesthetics of the diver has been preserved except that the new case comes in coppery hue of bronze. The case changes the entire look of the watch as it manages to create a somewhat bold statement but managing to keep the period feel. The caseback is solid, made out of titanium and has the diver with spear in his hand embossed on it. The screw-down crown makes the water resistance to 300m.
The case is not the only thing that grabs your attention, the dial is refreshing with the Arabic stencil numbers and printed line indices alongwith that striking green colour. The patina on the dial is much subtler and carries the same touch of khaki faux. The hands are finished in a sandblasted pink gold tone to match the dial and it does as good job as everything on the dial blends in seamlessly. The colour of the dial can be best described as deep forest green which is lacquered. The colours complement each other and has a degrade effect that drops off exponentially to almost pure black as we approach the edge of the dial. The same effect is magnified by the jet black inner rotating bezel. The watch marks the return of the no date dial and we can see that the 3 o’ clock numeral has been restored which adds to the balance and symmetry of the dial and gives a better clean visual effect.
Nothing has changed beneath the hood as the watch is still powered by the Caliber L888.5 automatic movement, which is made exclusive by the Swatch Group for Longines. The movement has silicon balance spring and an impressive reserve of 64 hours, the downside to it is that the watch beats at a pace slightly slower than the average 25,200 bhp.
The watch comes with a two straps. One is a cocoa brown leather strap that has contrast stitching in beige. Well, hold your horses, we know that people generally don’t like divers watch to be on leather strap as it contradicts the functionality of the watch. To please the purist the second strap is a NATO strap in army green nylon. The strap keeps true to the design of the watch and features woven raised edges and clean nylon keepers. Both the strap comes with signed bronze buckle.
Well it was waiting to happen, most of the famous diver’s watch already had a bronze case option and Longines just joined in on the wagon. Better late than never as they say but honestly speaking Longines took their sweet time in coming out with the model and managed to send the ball out of the park. The watch looks elegant and one could pull it off with semi formal clothes. The best part it that the watch sticks to its heritage and still manages to speak modernity in its design. The watch will be available from January 2021 and for more details visit Longines’ website.
The Enigmatic Pen 