BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
The Spirit collection by Longines was first introduced back in 2020 as a style set of sports watches inspired by aeronautics. While they don’t seem to have many standout features, it must be said that the watches in the Spirit collection look good, classy even. For 2021, the Spirit collection gains a trio of GMT watches which are called ‘Zulu Time’.
You have a choice of blue, which is still the en vogue watch colour, sandblasted anthracite with contrasting markers and bezel or matte black with blue details. Thankfully, only one of the three models has the so-called fauxtina, SuperLumiNova, given a patina colour from the factory. All models feature highly legible dials that aren’t crowded but still display the time, GMT function and date. They also have five stars on them, typical of the Spirit collection. Could this be Longines patting itself on the back and giving its watches five stars? Maybe, it’s good to see that they’re applied rather than printed along with the winged logo. By the way, Zulu time is the military way of saying Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), which is the time without adjustments for summertime hours.
As well as with the colour choices, Longines keeps it safe with the cases and straps. All models come in stainless steel with cases measuring 42mm x 13.9mm with bi-directional rotating bezels. They also have either a stainless steel bracelet or leather strap, which are interchangeable at your leisure. All versions are water-resistant to 100m.
Inside each watch is the calibre L844.4 which is based on an ETA movement. This gives it a power reserve of 72-hours and a frequency of 3.5Hz. This particular movement is also a COSC certified chronometer. Unfortunately, you can’t see the movement as it’s sealed behind a stainless steel caseback with an engraving of the Longines logo.
These are not limited in production and $2950 on leather or $3050 on steel. Visit Longines here.
