By Harlan Chapman-Green
The year was 1969 and man had accomplished the ultimate goal of standing on the moon only sixty odd years after flying its first ever aeroplanes. At around the same time the quartz watch market really took off and would have devastating consequences for some companies. It was around this time that wristwatches were becoming an interesting new style that would last up until the mid eighties. Watches were cushion shaped quite a lot and often had contrasting hands made of gold as opposed to the sleek silver or blue we know today.
Other than the appearance which we’ll get to in a minute I’m pleased to announce for all you lovers of vintage watches out there that Longines have kept the original dimensions of the watch and as such this measures a petite 36mm by 36mm altogether although the rounded corners will help bolster that size. For some this will no doubt be seen as a dainty piece and even some women are likely to show an interest in it for its size and interesting looks. The golden hands on a silvery dial aren’t something I’m a huge fan of, but that’s not the fault of Longines there as it’s a common occurrence for me in older watches, as such I don’t think of it as a big deal anyway.
The original watch came in three different variants depending on how much you were willing to spend at the time. You could get it in solid steel, gold plated steel or 18K yellow gold. It’s interesting to note that this comes in steel only at the moment as it shows our progress on how luxurious steel is conceived to be as a metal. Thankfully the simply awful times of gold plating on our wristwatches has mostly gone away which leaves us with yellow gold as a metal, seeing as how it’s still extremely popular in the market I think it speaks for itself.
The movement inside this watch is based off of an ETA Calibre A31.L01 movement which has featured in some other Longines models. However here it takes the guise of a Longines Calibre L888.2 movement with a huge power reserve of 64 hours, a huge boost over the 45 hours of an ETA 2892. Remember that is actually quite a lot to pack in to a relatively small case. The selling price of the steel watch is $2050 in total and gets you an updated look from the 1960s combined with the perks of the modern watchmaking technologies such as super accurate microscopes, more precise tools and better manufacturing facilities too, it’s a win-win! For more info, please visit longines.com
