The Longines Legend Diver finally comes in a 36mm case fitting of the era it was inspired from

We have a love-hate moment every time Longines decides to dig into their archives and pull out yet another Heritage model for their collection. On the one hand its great to have a vintage design with the reliability of a modern watch but because Longines have to kinda cater to a more mass-market it often comes with additions like a new date window and almost always with a larger case.

The Legend Diver that came out a few years back is no exception to this rule. The watch itself was modelled after but instead of keeping the 40mm dimensions (which was large for the 60s) they decided to make it 42mm and of course, gave it a date window. After doing some research, we found out that there was a previous version of this Heritage Legend Diver from around 2011 and although it still came in the 42mm case, it was a no-date version!

Fast forward to 2019 and the Longines Legend Diver done so well for the brand that they have now decided to announce a variant with a 36mm case. Sure, it’s marketed as a ladies timepiece, but apart from the ultra-feminine version with a white bezel and a mother-of-pearl dial, the ones with the black lacquer dial and the brown lacquer dial wouldn’t feel out of place on a man’s wrist.

The styling takes the same inspiration from the Original SuperCompressor but this time the size of the watch is smaller than the original at 36mm. However, if you think about it, a 36mm watch was something of a norm at the time thus giving this new modern re-issue quite a nice vintage spirit. As with the other Legend Divers, this watch also features two screw-down crowns, one to set the date/time and the other to adjust the internal bezel, and is powered by a self-winding Calibre L592 movement.

Case: Stainless steel
Case size: 36mm
Crystal: Domed sapphire with multi-layered anti-reflective coating
Movement: Calibre L592 (ETA A20.L11)
Water Resistance: 30 bar (300m)
Price: USD2,150 to 2,400 depending on dial and strap