Longines Legend Diver

This is indeed bad, but I seem to be moving towards wanting to get one of this. What is it? Well it is the Longines Legend Diver. I have no idea why but maybe it is the history behind the watch, or maybe it is a true reissue of the watch issued in the 60s. I have been told and from what I have seen (photographs on the Internet), it is indeed a 99% reissue of the original 1960 compressor diver.

A bit on the history of the Legend Diver. The origins of this watch dates back to the 50s. This was when deep sea exploration was a new science. It was during this time that manned submersible vessels called bathyscaphes (developed by French deep-sea explorer Auguste Piccard) were developed. These vessels could withstand huge pressures and could allow the explorers to go very deep into the sea.

Longines supplied instruments for one of these vessels, the Trieste. Why does this name seems familiar? Well, the Trieste set the world depth dive record in 1953, carrying two to the depth of 3,150 meters.

Back to the current. I guess I do know why I am attracted to this watch. Why? Well it shares the same or rather similar design characteristics to 2 other watches that have also been reissued. The watches being the Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Tribute to Polaris and the IWC Vintage Aquatimer. All 3 watches share the 2 (well 3 in the Jaeger) crown and internal rotating bezel design.

Anyway, the basic specifications for the Legend Diver:

Model Reference: L3.674.4.56.2

Case: stainless steel, diameter 42 mm, lug width 22 mm

Crown: 2 screw-down crown

Crystal: domed scratch-resistant sapphire crystal

Movement: L633 automatic movement, 28,800 A/h (based on ETA 2824/2)

Functions: hours, minutes and seconds

Water resistance: 30 ATM

Power reserve: 38 hours

For more information:

www.longines.com

The Longines Legend Diver

Photograph: Longines

The IWC Vintage Aquatimer

Photograph: IWC

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Tribute to Polaris

Photograph: Jaeger LeCoultre