Longines Heritage Legend Diver

Hands-on with the Legend Diver on a Milanese mesh bracelet, now an all-round timepiece

13 September 2017 | Longines , Watch Reviews Baselworld 2017

There is a sense of eternity that surrounds watches like the Longines Heritage Legend Diver. It seems like yesterday when I first photographed it and wrote about it and now, three years later, I have found it again and I have experienced the exact same feelings as three years ago; one of the best re-issue examples of a diver’s watch that the world of watch-making has ever given us and one of the best Heritage timepieces ever crafted, the proof that the original model designed in the 60s is still extremely popular.

I am slightly envious of those, who are lucky enough to own one of these original watches with the “patina” on the dial; exactly like the same reference that I saw in the windows of a renowned boutique in Capri specializing in vintage watches located next to the main square.

The Longines Heritage Legend Diver has grown up, meaning that the brand from St.Imier has made this timepiece jump forward by a good length by improving the original model with its fabric strap (the protagonist of one of Horbiter®’s most-read articles ever). The timepiece has been granted the right space even out of water, thanks to the introduction of a Milan mesh bracelet that was so unexpected at first as it was so successful after only two weeks of normal use.

Two weeks only (during which I worked on the launch of Horbitech and on Horbiter's future channels) that I spent in the company of the Longines Heritage Legend Diver. My holidays in Portovenere and along the Emerald Coast, where I enjoyed special panoramas and moments that were more than enough to make me realize whether I liked that watch or not and whether I would buy it or not. I liked the first Longines Heritage Legend Diver I tried on some years ago; the case with its Super Compressor like screw-in back, the enamelled dial with an inner bezel that rotates through the second crown have not changed. And the new Legend Diver Black PVD has joined the collection now.

A few years later, however, it was time to close the circle and go back to work on one of the best sellers among the watches from the Heritage collection. The addition of the Milan mesh bracelet opens new product scenarios and raises the profile of an excellent historic diver’s watch that has now reached to the same rank of a timepiece with a wider usage spectrum.

Shape-wise, the Milan mesh bracelet devised by Longines is the most classic one, at least in the area where it joins the case and where it creates that empty space that is the typical effect given by all those watches equipped with this type of mesh. For the folding buckle, Longines designed a large snap closure with a double safety button and a protection folding clasp; a solution that reminds me of the folding buckle of a PloProf, despite being technically quite different. Although very well-crafted, I would have opted for something more vintage with a hidden clasp and an embossed Longines logo or, maybe, a "Legend Diver" logo created for this watch that represents a small but big must-have for those, who love the Heritage sports watches by Longines.

Once you have removed the extra mesh links to adjust the Longines Heritage Legend Diver to the size of your wrist, you will own a watch that wraps your wrist perfectly and it will be pinch-free too. Longines has designed a bracelet with a very thick mesh and that folding buckle is ultimately the key element in ensuring that the watch stays firmly in position wrapped around your wrist even when you dive. This timepiece is 42mm of pure vintage (without the date it would be even more vintage, but the vintage effect is enhanced however by the presence of the Milan mesh) crafted to celebrate the first 10-year-anniversary since the re-edition of this diver's watch, which is now more mature and positions itself at a higher level than the version with a strap that still remains in the catalog.