The Longines Heritage Avigation Watch Type A-7 watch hands-on

Intro

People will ask themselves why the Longines Heritage Avigation Watch Type A-7 has such an unusual name. If the word “Heritage” clearly identifies the historical collection by Longines, the term “Avigation” is no marketing mannerism, but it refers to a specification set by the US Army during WW2.

To comply with this specification, all wristwatches in this category needed to be easy to read and wear while flying, without the pilot having to take his hands off the cloche; they were therefore worn on top of the leather flying suit, with the dial facing the inside of the wrist and angled at 50° clockwise to make it easier to read.

We can claim that the Longines Heritage Avigation Watch Type A-7 (Avigation = Aeronautical Navigation) is the quintessential re-issue of a Type A-7 WWII wristwatch. Longines launched it over two years ago (we didn’t even exist as a magazine) as a faithful re-edition of the original version.

A limited number of the original Type A-7 models have been produced even for civilian use.

Case and dial

Timepieces from the Heritage collection are quite hefty: add 1,5mm to a Lindbergh’s case, and you’ll get the Type A-7’s 49mm wide case. Its black dial features big white Arabic numerals, making it easier for pilots to read it even in harsh conditions, such as strong turbulence and vibrations.

A tachymetric scale is on the dial’s outer ring, while the small window date is placed by the 6; this feature will only be found in this newer version and is operated via a small corrector at 7.

A mono-pusher Chrono

The Longines Heritage Avigation Watch Type A-7 (L2.779.4.53.0) is a single push-piece chronograph with a small button placed at 12, coaxial to the onion-shaped winding crown, by which you can start, stop and reset the chronograph’s functions.

Between 2 and 3, a tiny pusher “unlocks” a mirror-polished lid on which Longines has reproduced its historical logo. Here is one of the most successful nods between this timepiece and the original version.

The Longines calibre L788

A lid (through a sapphire crystal) offers access to the self-winding L788 movement. It has a column wheel chronograph mechanism (visible in our photo), a balance wheel that vibrates at 4Hz, and a power reserve of up to 54 hours when fully wound.

Final thoughts

The Longines Heritage Avigation Watch Type A-7 is the most atypical choice from the Heritage collection. It is mainly geared toward nostalgics, military watch enthusiasts, or those searching for an aesthetically different aviator watch. For this purpose, it is nice to see that it also comes with a replacement extendable strap, which allows you to wear it on top of the sleeve of a vintage aviation suit.

The case’s width is remarkable, but engineers at Longines have worked hard to make it the slimmest possible so that it is quite comfortable. However, it is undoubtedly best suited for male wrists. It retails between 3200€-3400€ (I have no official price list yet, but I believe this to be a pretty accurate estimate). I consider this to be very competitive, especially if you think that the A-7 is a single push-piece chronograph with a column wheel mechanism and a 100% mirror polished case; to this, I would add more personalization to the winding rotor and, hopefully, shortly, a manual wind calibre.

(Photo credit: Google; Horbiter®)

Gaetano C. @Horbiter®