10 Best Longines Watches for Every Type of Enthusiast

Headquartered in Saint-Imier, Switzerland since its founding in 1832, Longines takes its name from “les longines,” or the “long meadows” that surround that picturesque Swiss village. For nearly 200 years, the brand has been a watchmaking pioneer and a prolific maker of timepieces in all manner of styles and for all types of users — from sports timing to aviation, from an afternoon of scuba diving to an elegant night on the town. What are the best Longines watches on the market today? It all depends on what you’re looking for in a timepiece. In the curated list below, we showcase some of our recent favorites from the contemporary collection, which offers a style of watch for just about everyone. 

Retro-Cool Dive Watch: Legend Diver

Price: $3,000, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 12.7mm, Lug to Lug: 48.2mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 300m, Movement: Automatic ETA A31.L11

Longines updated the Legend Diver, a modern re-issue of a compressor-style dive watch it produced in 1960, with a case made of bronze, a metal historically used in maritime equipment due to its anti-corrosive properties, and paired it with a sea-green lacquered dial. The 42-mm, 300-meter water-resistant case replicates the silhouette of the original and includes that vintage model’s two crowns — one for winding the watch, the other for operating the internal rotating divers’ bezel. The lacquered dial has a gradient effect, with an emerald green center radiating to an outer edge of black. The solid titanium caseback has an engraving of a diver and hides the movement, automatic Caliber L883.3 (a modified ETA A31.L02 produced exclusively for Longines), with a power reserve of 65 hours.

Robust Modern Diver: Hydroconquest

Price: $1,700, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 11.9mm, Lug Width: 21mm, Water Resistance: 300m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Longines Caliber L888

The Longines HydroConquest builds upon the original Conquest design for an even more rugged and sport-oriented aesthetic, one aimed squarely at recreational divers and those looking to emulate their look. The HydroConquest’s unidirectional ratcheting bezel has a 60-minute dive-scale insert, with the first 15-minute sector delineated by minute markers and Arabic numerals at each subsequent 10-minute interval. The traditional sword handset of the original Conquest is here replaced by a short, faceted hour hand with a bulging luminous diamond, a baton minute hand, and a lollipop-style sweep seconds hand. On this model, a military green dial and bezel harmonizes with a rubber strap in the same color. The case is water resistant to 300 meters, more than sufficient to meet ISO requirements for a diving watch, and contains the Longines-exclusive Caliber L888, built upon the ETA L31.L11 base movement and souped up with a 72-hour power reserve and a frequency of 25,200 vph.

Dress Watch for a Moonlight Soirée: Flagship Heritage Moonphase

Price: $3,050, Case Size: 38.5mm, Thickness: 12.4mm, Water-Resistance: 30m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Longines Caliber L899.5

Longines introduced the first Flagship model more than six decades ago, in 1957, and its elegantly understated aesthetic has found an appreciative audience ever since. The modern Flagship is defined by its clean, understated dial, here in sunray blue; faceted Dauphine hands; subtle; applied “coffin-shaped” hour markers; and its overall thin profile with tapering lugs. The dial of the Flagship Heritage Moonphase models, launched in 2023, features a stacked arrangement in the center, with the Longines winged-hourglass logo at 12 o’clock, above the axis of the central hands, below which lie a subdial with an analog date display for its border and a moon-phase aperture at its center. The case measures 38.5mm in diameter and 12.4mm thick and contains the self-winding, ETA-based Longines Caliber L899.5, which holds a 72-hour power reserve. The solid caseback is distinguished by a medallion depicting — you guessed it — a vintage naval flagship.

Sharp-Dressed Chrono: Longines Record Heritage Chronograph

Price: $3,125, Case Size: 40mm, Case Height: 13.8mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Longines Caliber L895

The Record Watch Co. was founded in 1903 and was known as the maker of the popular, triangular “Sector” pocket watch before delving more deeply into wristwatches in the early 20th Century, including high-end chronographs in the 1930s. Longines absorbed the Record brand in the 1960s and resurrected the Record style in a series of vintage-flavored models under the Longines brand umbrella. Among the newest and most noteworthy is 2022’s Record Chronograph, with a round 40mm steel case and a sober black dial with gold-colored details, including the tachymeter scale that borders its edges and the frames for the parallel subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock. Golden leaf-shaped hands tell the time on a combination of Arabic numerals at the even hours and thin indexes at the odds, while smoothly rounded rectangular pushers activate the built-in stopwatch. A COSC-certified automatic movement, with a silicon balance spring and a 59-hour power reserve, ticks inside.

Everyday Sport-Luxury: Conquest 2023

Price: $1,975, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 10.9mm, Lug Width: 21mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Longines L888

The Conquest collection is one of Longines’ oldest and most enduring, having initially launched in 1954 and which would eventually give rise to the popular HydroConquest subfamily of dive watches. The core Conquest collection, which had been defined by large Arabic numerals at 12 and 6 o’clock, was redesigned in 2023 to be even more streamlined and more versatile, with a 41mm steel case, a wider sloping bezel, elegantly curved crown guards, and a sunburst dial with thinner, tapered applied indexes and no numerals to be found, other than those in the subtle 6 o’clock date window. The time-and-date model (a new three-register chronograph version has also been introduced) comes in at an MSRP just under $2,000; the caseback has a sapphire window to show off the impressive decorative finishes on the proprietary self-winding Caliber L888.

Pilot's Chronograph with Vintage Appeal: Avigation BigEye

Price: $2,625, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 14.45mm, Lug-to-Lug: 48.5mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Water Resistance: 30m, Movement: Auto ETA-based L688, Power Reserve: 54 Hours, Crystal: Sapphire

Taking its cues from a 1930s pilots’ chronograph, the Avigation BigEye, which debuted in steel with a black dial in 2017, finds its most eye-catching expression in this model with a brushed titanium case and a smoked blue dial. The dial is distinguished by its large, luminous Arabic numerals and the extra-large 30-minute chronograph counter at 3 o’clock (the “Big Eye” referred to in the model’s name, with “Avigation” being a portmanteau of “aviation” and “navigation”). The movement is Longines’ proprietary automatic Caliber L688, with a 54-hour power reserve and an integrated column-wheel chronograph — a rarity at this price. The prominent, pump-style chronograph pushers are designed for easy operability, even for a pilot wearing gloves.

Travel Companion: Spirit Zulu Time

Price: $2,950, Reference: L3.812.4.93.2, Case Size: 42mm, Case Height: 13.9mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber L844

Throughout its history, Longines has supplied aviation pioneers like Hugh Herndon, Clyde Pangborn and Amy Johnson with watches and onboard clocks; these early timepieces inspired today’s Spirit collection. With the Spirit Zulu Time model, which joined the collection in 2022, the brand also stylishly revisits its history of developing some of the first dual-time instruments (“Zulu Time” is the military radio jargon for the “zero” time at the Greenwich Meridian, aka GMT). The watch’s steel case — as of 2023, available in both 42mm and 39mm sizes — houses a proprietary automatic movement, Caliber L844, which allows independent adjustment of both the traditional hour hand and the GMT hand that indicates an additional time zone on the 24-hour bezel, with lacquered engraved numerals on its colorful ceramic bezel insert. For lots more on the history of the Longines Zulu Time and details on the modern watch, read our overview here.

Field Watch with History: Heritage Military Marine Nationale

Price: $2,000, Reference: L2.833.4.93.2, Case Size: 38.5mm, Case Height: 12.3mm, Lug Width: 19mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Longines Caliber L888.5

Longines’ Heritage Military collection offers revivals of models from the brand’s archives with a military pedigree. The Marine Nationale edition, issued in 2020, is based upon a watch from 1947 that Longines supplied to the French Navy. The modern watch’s 38.5mm case is just slightly larger than its 35.5mm predecessor, and its gold opaline dial, with blued steel hands and black painted Arabic hour numerals, features the inscription “Fab Suisse” (for Fabrique Suisse, or “Swiss Made”) under the Longines logo, another period-appropriate detail. The movement is decidedly modern, the ETA-supplied, Longines-exclusive Caliber L888.5, which is COSC-certified for chronometric performance and features an antimagnetic silicon balance spring.

Art Deco Icon: DolceVita

Price: $1,775, Case size: 27.7mm x 43.8mm, Thickness: 10.1mm, Lug Width: 19mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Longines Caliber 592

Longines has been a longtime supporter and timing partner of equestrian events worldwide, and the Swiss brand’s DolceVita watches — originally intended as a ladies’ collection, but expanded to include some more masculine sizes as well, like the Automatic model pictured — have long been associated with that heritage thanks to their understated elegance. The softly curved rectangular steel case frames a sharply designed sector dial, with a silver-brushed outer area with Arabic numerals, thin bar indexes and a railroad minute track; and an inner rectangle with blued sword hands and a tiny date window right above 6 o'clock. The self-winding ETA-based Caliber 592 does its work quietly behind a solid caseback engraved with the familiar Longines winged hourglass logo.

Museum Piece: Longines Lindbergh Hour Angle

Price: $5,000, Case Size: 47.5mm, Case Height: 16.3mm, Lug Width: 25mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Longines Automatic Caliber L699

When Charles Lindbergh made his record-setting transatlantic flight in his Spirit of Saint Louis in 1927, Longines was the official timekeeper. Afterward, in 1931, Lindbergh collaborated with the Swiss watchmaker to create the Hour Angle watch, a wrist-borne timepiece whose cleverly designed dial and rotating bezel allowed early pilots to make helpful longitude calculations right on their wrists. The modern version of this forward-thinking timepiece (whose functionality has nevertheless been rendered obsolete by electronic cockpit instruments, of course) is very similar to that vintage model, with a massive 47.5mm steel case; a bulbous, vintage-style onion crown; a polished, white lacquered dial with blued hands and a central rotating disk for calculations; and the bidirectional rotating calculator bezel. The automatic Caliber L699 ticks inside behind a period-appropriate solid steel caseback. It’s a modern version of a watch that truly had a historic impact on the history of aviation.