The Legend Diver is, without a doubt, among Longines' top-selling watches and was, funnily enough, the first Longines watch we ever photographed. Since 2007, when the current edition first appeared, the Legend Diver has slightly (and slowly) changed. The product range has enlarged in the last couple of years, including a steel mesh bracelet or a black PVD-treated case with a black matching rubber strap. As 2020 comes to an end, Longines has just taken the curtain off an unexpected Big Eye in titanium, along with two options of the Legend Diver.
The new timepieces are the outcome of a product and communication strategy aimed at marketing products addressed to specific markets, although the current online businesses allow watch enthusiasts to purchase any product from anywhere virtually. Please take a look at the gorgeous Legend Diver Poland Edition in gold, for instance, and how it sublimely combines a vintage diving watch appearance with a gold luxury sports wristwatch feel. Today's Legend Diver is not a tool watch, despite the original one's specs, including a Super Compressor case back and inner rotating graduated bezel.
The two product variants welcome a technical and consumer-oriented update, as it is the new color palette eye-catching. The smoked blue dial (inner bezel, which is black, excluded) is close to the stunning Petrol Blue as seen on the Big Eye. The brown dial option pays homage to the old patina Legend Diver from the sixties, whose average market price is above ten thousand euros when sold with original box and papers. I hardly understand why Longines didn't introduce a no-date Legend Diver, something the brand reserved exclusively for the new bronze Legend Diver.
At 42 mil across, the Longines Legend Diver is unchanged; the blue and brown editions showcase a matching brown or blue leather strap with pin buckle. In my personal Longines Heritage wish list, the Legend Diver is only second to the Skin Diver, my Longines Heritage grail watch so far. I see both watches as an attempt to strengthen, along with the bronze Legend Diver, the vintage diving watch foothold, as proven by the latest communication campaign involving long-standing Longines collectors. Additionally, raise a hand if you're ready to go swimming with one of them, given they equally adopt a leather strap. The 2020 Legend Diver houses the L888.5 caliber featuring a silicon hairspring and 64 hours of power reserve when fully wound.
It means the new Longines Legend Diver is a five-year warranty guaranteed timepiece. I took this chance to track the retail price point evolution in the last six years, which has grown due to steady market request, and enhanced technical specifications, raising from 1,610 Euros, in 2014, to 2,280 Euros in 2020. It is all but a negligible price increase, as it is commanding a 7% increase year on year, at a steady price growth rate.
I believe the launch price was under-appreciated considering a brand this exclusive, while the current one is appropriate to such a reissue, instead (the threshold being 2,500 Euros for this kind of product). The added value is not related to the 64-hour power reserve, something that the audience might barely appreciate, in my opinion, with the five-year guarantee being a game-changer instead, in this class of products.
(Photo credit: Marco Antinori for Horbiter®)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
Instagram – Gaetano Cimmino
