BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Longines’ Hydroconquest is arguably one of their best-looking watches in my eyes. It brings that sporty look with some heft, but has enough subtlety in its detailing to keep my attention, much like Omega’s Seamaster Planet Ocean did before they changed it. For 2026, Longines has introduced the next generation of their Hydroconquest, let’s take a look.
Firstly, it’s hard to deny that the new Hydroconquest is a handsome thing. The dial is a mix of chunky markers and contrasts with appealing touches like the applied markers. The shape of the hands is nice, and I’m not so bothered by the fact that the date window sometimes contrasts the dial colour, things like that usually get at me right away.
You get a few choices of colours, including black, green, dark blue, a light blue dial paired with a dark blue bezel (that’s an exclusive model, apparently) and a black dial with a “Luminous Blue” bezel. The models come in 39mm and 42mm diameters and, for this new generation, also feature a Milanese loop bracelet as an option alongside the more traditional linked bracelet. Fitted with ceramic bezels, these diving watches are water resistant to 300m.
Fitted within the new Hydroconquest is the self-winding calibre L888.5, manufactured by ETA to Longines’ standards. It’s not a new movement and has seen life in plenty of Longines’ watches, including the old Hydroconquest models, but the 3.5Hz beat rate and 72-hour power reserve are right in line with the current industry standard.
The new Longines Hydroconquest lineup looks great, though it seems to have suffered the same problem as its Swatch sister brand, Omega: its website shows that the old Hydroconquest models are still available for sale at the time of writing. I can understand not introducing a new movement if the current one is perfectly adequate, but offering these new models alongside the older ones on their website just feels wrong, as if they haven’t let go. It would be a different story if they were in a shop window with physical goods, but they aren’t. With that said, they still look good, arguably, better than the older models, and with prices ranging from $2200 to $2400, they undoubtedly offer great value.
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