Longines is one of the best kept secrets in the watch industry despite having an immensely rich history and solid value for money. With so many Longines watches on the market, it can be tough to identify the best from the rest. With this guide, you’ll have all the information you need to start navigating the Longines market quickly and intelligently. We’ll take you through the most important things to know if you’re considering buying a Longines watch including the brand’s history, current lineup, their reputation among collectors, the most significant and most expensive vintage examples, and their competition from other brands.
Nearly 200 Years in the Making
Longines was founded in 1832 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland as a small workshop under the name Raiguel Jeune. The company established a new workshop for serially producing movements in 1867. With this change, the brand adopted the name Longines which roughly translates to “the long meadows.” Longines was instrumental in the battles of the early twentieth century as they provided field watches to British forces (as part of the “Dirty Dozen” brands) and chronographs to various air forces during the second world war. They also partnered with Charles Lindburg to develop the Hour Angle watch which helped Charles Lindbergh calculate his plane’s longitude during his famous transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. Today the brand is owned by the Swatch Group and is known for their support of equestrian events and their accessibly priced mechanical watches often drawing from the brand’s rich archives.
For the Modern Watch Lover
With just a quick search on Chrono24, you’ll find over 18,000 contemporary and vintage watches on the marketplace now with prices ranging from roughly $100-$100,000. The upper end is occupied by historic vintage models. We’ll get to those in a second.
If you’re one who prefers modern watches, variety and value are on your side when it comes to Longines. Perhaps the best all-around model in their current lineup is the Longines Conquest. The time and date watch comes in a range of colors and sizes, and it’s just as equipped for the beach as it is for the office. If you’re lucky enough to find yourself switching time zones on regular occasions, the Longines Spirit Zulu Time GMT has proven to be a crowd favorite thanks, in part, to the “flyer” style jumping 12-hour GMT hand.
When it comes to chronographs, Longines has the best selection of any brand in the $1,000-$5,000 price range. You can filter for chronographs within your Longines search results on Chrono24 see the full gamut of classic to contemporary, and minimal to busy.
Finally, the Longines Legend Diver is their much-celebrated diving watch, and it’s not your typical diver. The “LLD” as it’s known features an inner-rotating bezel which is not as immediately functional as a traditional bezel but does allow the diver to dress up much easier than most (form as a function). Since late 2023, you can now find 36mm, 42mm, and that sweet spot of 39mm in a variety of dial colors from traditional to experimental.
So, What’s Longines’ Reputation?
A good way to tell if someone is a true watch enthusiast or merely a casual observer is to ask their opinion on Longines. On the surface level, they appear to be just another luxury brand not deserving of much more than a glance, but for those that know, Longines is a heritage manufacture with deep vintage archives and strong contemporary offerings for their price. If you’re a fan of our YouTube channel, you may have seen our interview with John Reardon, a man considered the world’s authority on vintage Patek Philippe. Before he wore a Patek, he wore a Longines. John Goldberger, one of the world’s master collectors and frequent Hodinkee fixture, wrote a book on vintage Longines.
If you’re just getting into watches, Longines is a solid choice for their build quality and spirited vintage-inspired designs. If you’re getting into vintage timepieces, you can easily find one of those personality-filled vintage designs ranging from classic dress watches, funky and colorful 1970s diving chronographs, and sculptural oddities designed by Serge Manzon. And if you have a healthy budget to spend, you can source an auction-level piece like one of their military chronographs or perfectly aged divers.
The Important Vintage Longines Models
As we’ve hinted at plenty already, Longines is a destination for vintage watches. Their 13.33Z chronograph (followed by the more common 13ZN and 30CH) was the world’s first chronograph wristwatch and world’s first flyback chronograph. No other brand tried to create their own in-house flyback chronograph until twenty years later with the Breguet Type XX. These Longines chronos reach well into five figure prices for good reason.
If you’re into military history, or you just like the watches, you can dig into the original Longines Legend Divers featuring a compressor style case that actually gains in water resistance the deeper it goes. For WWII history, you can still find military-issued field watches worn by allied soldiers, one of the twelve “Dirty Dozen” brands as they’re known.
For aviation-heads, the Longines Hour Angle was pioneered by Charles Lindbergh during his historic flight across the Atlantic. The Hour Angle features a computer’s worth of measurement scales for calculating speed, fuel consumption, navigation, and more. It’s a system that’s as comprehensive as it is daunting.
Finally, if class is your goal, check out the Dolce Vita. The modern versions of this watch are fine and feminine, but search for the hard-to-find ref. L5.669.6, and you’ll discover an 18kt solid white gold beauty that rivals the Cartier Tank.
Longines’ Biggest Competition
Of course, Longines isn’t the only brand on the market offering a mix of value and heritage. And if you’re looking for a respectable timepiece that won’t completely empty your bank account, Longines likely won’t be the only manufacturer you consider. On the more affordable end, Seiko is a popular choice. They’re not as heavy in their vintage offerings, but they’ve certainly made a name for themselves as the go-to affordable watch brand.
If you’ve got a little more to spend or are willing to save up, Tudor and Omega have similar strengths as Longines but to an even higher degree. Their vintage archives are generally more highly esteemed, and their R&D budgets are more substantial to match the sale price. Finally, if you’re on a budget and want something unique, Longines is of course an option but the microbrand market is an ever-expanding ocean.
