The Longines Legend Diver 39 watches hands on

Introduction

In 2023, Longines unveiled a 39 mm Legend Diver. They slimmed down the case from 42 mm to 39 mm, adopting the original style, and added a steel bracelet, equipping the watches with state-of-the-art specs like never before.

Straight forward to 2024’s second half, Longines adds three colour options, thus totalling, with the initial black and blue, five colour options on a bracelet or a strap when this article goes online.

The story in brief

The Longines Legend Diver first appeared in 1959 despite Longines, whose list of product innovations and watchmaking’s firsts is terrific, thoroughly testing waterproofness and diving watches years before.

Up front, you instantly recognise the watch by its unmistakable rotating bezel placed on the dial, an odd design nowadays yet popular in the early days of professional diving watches. However, when approaching this layout, Longines and its Legend Diver quickly come to mind.

The Legend Diver appeared from 1959 to the mid-70s, when it disappeared from the brand’s catalogue. It surfaced in 2007 in two options, with or without a date window, and in this later iteration, it became a collectors’ favourite.

Fast forward to 2017, the collection received a significant upgrade, and its pinnacle in 2023 was the 39mm model, the most refined and technically advanced Legend Diver.

The new Longines Legend Diver

Interestingly, the Legend Diver followed the opposite process of most diving watches, debuting larger and slimming down along the way. Most professional watches have gone the opposite direction instead, growing their size well over the original 40 mm or less.

The 39mm size is a first in the Legend Diver history, yet not the smallest as exemplified by the listed 36mm model conceived as a unisex model or for women’s primarily and specific markets. What matters the most is how heavily Longines invested in improving the product in detail, finishes, and, above all, perceivable technical specifications.

The lacquered dial’s Arabic numerals and matching applied indexes are three-dimensional and filled with luminescent material. The hour and minute hands underwent a slight redesign, and the sapphire glass box on top has a black metallic plating. Most importantly, the watch is a 300-meter ISO 6425-certified diving watch.

The Longines Legend Diver 39 complies with the ISO 6425 certification.

What does that mean? It turns the Legend Diver into an officially certified diving watch since it complies with an international standard of the rules to name a watch an authentic “professional diving watch”.

It involves the design as much as the testing process. In brief, Longines has thoroughly reviewed its factory processes to implement such standards in the product development process to the extent of building a professional diving watch.

The chronometer certification proves positive of the effort to set the Legend Diver 39 as the reference model in its product category, thus making final customers aware of how much and where a 39 mm Legend Diver has improved.

The bracelet

With the latest-gen 72-hour power reserve Longines L888.6 movement powering the watch, the last mile was the right accessory a Legend Diver was still missing: a new bracelet. Here come two options for a brand: try and apply an add-on option to a long-lasting design or design one seamlessly integrated into a 65-year-old case.

Longines designers, whose latest bracelets stand out in fit and finish, went for option two by unveiling an integrated bracelet whose mid-shiny mesh houses a “bead of rice” mesh and a quick-adjustment folding clasp with double safety push buttons. It brilliantly integrates into the overall design and does not pinch the wrist once secured onto the wrist.

Be advised that this is Legend Diver’s first-ever bracelet; the contemporary Legend Diver also comes with a Milanese mesh bracelet and once had various bracelet options, not integrated, as exemplified by 1968 reference 7594-3.

Variants and options

How many variants and options does a Legend Diver 39 offer? In 2023, it debuted with a Black or Blue Dial and a bracelet, leather or a Nato Strap. Of course, the options far exceed the colour variants.

This year, Longines unveils a classic grey that I would pick over the black, a green as a valuable option to the bestselling blue and a less-mainstream Terracotta, whose palette somewhat reminds the patina on some vintage iterations.

Final thoughts

With the new 39 mm size, Longines squared the circle by offering their global audience a unisex all-rounder Legend Diver. Such an upgrade proves how serious Longines was in improving the timepiece, turning it into the most compelling legacy of the 1959 professional diving model.

From a price perspective, the collection kicks off at 3,450 euros on a leather or NATO strap and stops at 3,800 euros on a bracelet, which I reckon is the option.

The improvement area regards the bracelet, whose build quality, as said, is unquestionable, but the lack of a quick change mechanism is questionable instead. It looks like a missed opportunity to replace it with a rubber strap, and my thoughts go to the tropical one available on the Legend Diver 42 mm, for example. It is very comfortable and helps preserve the bracelet during the summer season.

I also hope Longines will consider a limited edition model anytime soon. With the 1971 reference crafted for the Australian Navy, the brand has the pedigree to create a 100-piece Legend Diver 39. I am sure it will attract die-hard fans and boost the standard collection.

(Photo credit: Horbiter®)

Giovanni Maria Di Biase @Horbiter®