5 Longines heritage timepieces for every occasion

James Robinson

Longines offer a great many different styles of timepieces across five unique collections in their portfolio of wristwatches.

And while each of the five collections provides a distinctive interpretation of what a timepiece should offer, in my opinion, the Swiss watchmaker’s Heritage collection resonates the most with horological enthusiasts.

These are the timepieces that hark back to some of Longines’ most important watches of the last century and, more importantly, while the aesthetic presented is decidedly vintage, the innards of these Heritage watches are bang up to date, offering the latest and greatest engineering cred that the Longines has to offer.

And when you can combine vintage flair with modern reliability and accuracy, it really is a “have your cake and eat it too” scenario.

Anyway, with all this in mind, here are five examples of Longines Heritage timepieces that tick all the boxes of a great collection, no matter the context:

The Dress Watch – Longines Conquest Heritage

 

Every good watch collection needs a decent dress watch. And when we say decent, that means leather band, minimal complications, a case size preferably no bigger than 40mm and an arresting dial design. This Longines Conquest Heritage meets this criteria with aplomb, and the black dials, contrasting pink metal hands and hour indices give the watch a distinctively Art Deco vibe, which is very handsome indeed. In addition, the Caliber L633 movement housed inside the 40mm steel case offers no more or less than hours, minutes, seconds and a date complication, ensuring that the dial remains clean and uncluttered. $3075

The Weekend Warrior – Longines Skin Diver Heritage

 

Weekends are for letting your hair down, for being more casual and laidback, and you should own a wristwatch that shares this same ethos. I can’t think of many other watches, especially at this price point, that offer as much Saturday and Sunday savoir-faire as Longines’ Skin Diver. The 42mm vintage-inspired stainless steel wristwatch is a dead ringer for the original Longines Skin Diver, which was actually the Swiss Marque’s first ever dive watch. The dial runs a clinic in how to make a new watch look like it has real patina, and when aired with the positively lackadaisical tan-brown leather band, this timepiece lives for the 48 hours that break our weeks apart. $3575

The Daily – Longines Heritage Classic

 

The hype beast of the moment, Longines’ new Heritage Classic has garnered the attention of a great amount of people within the horological hemisphere. And it’s pretty easy to understand why – Longines have nailed it with this one. For a start, the brushed stainless steel case’s 38.5mm dimensions land it smack bang in the middle of the Goldilocks zone of wristwatch case sizes. Then there’s the gorgeous sector dial, finished in an arresting silver colour and complemented by blue metal hands and painted numerals. Attached to a fluffy blue suede leather strap, I reckon I could very easily daily this timepiece with no issues whatsoever, and our man Nicholas Kenyon reckons it may well be his next purchase. $2900

The Diver – Longines Legend Diver

 

One of our favourite dive watches here at Time+Tide, the Longines Legend Diver has been, ever since its release in 2007, an absolute classic. This particular example, ref. L3.774.2.50.9, does a great job of blending vintage cues with modernity, thanks to its completely blacked-out colour scheme, which is achieved by PVD coating. The complementing bracelet, a rubberised faux Milanese number, also does a great job of appearing vintage, but being completely 21st century. And, with a screw-down crown, internal rotating bezel, and 300 metres of water resistance, the Legend Diver is more than up to the task for all but the most serious of divers. $3725

The Chronograph – Longines Column-Wheel Single Push-Piece Chronograph

 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the chronograph complication has got to be in the argument for one of the most important complications devised for timekeeping devices. As such, no self-respecting watch enthusiast can profess to have a full and complete watch collection without the presence of a chronograph. This Longines is a great example of a chronograph-equipped wristwatch, especially when you take into account its traditional dial design, complete with two sub-dials displaying running seconds and 30-minute counter, tachymeter and date aperture located at six o’clock. $4350