The Swiss watchmaking pioneer Longines has a wide range of distinctive timepieces, including the Classic Reproduction, which is a perfect continuation of Longines' centuries-old classic design elements and showcases its achievements since its inception. Today, Longines presents us with a new Longines Heritage Classic 40 mm stainless steel 1946 chronograph replica, a new model with an understated elegance with a 40mm diameter dial that will thrill the Longines faithful. Here, let's take a look at this superb timepiece.
While the original is a bit of an odd watch visually, the remake looks good. The Heritage Classic Chronograph 1946 replica is nearly identical to the original, save for its size and importantly, the shape of the hands, which make quite a difference.
As with most remakes, the 1946 has been bulked up to 40mm, still a good, manageable size. The 1946 has an entirely polished case, with faceted lugs that are polished on both faces. The lugs are short so it wears smaller than the diameter suggests.
But it is thick relative to its diameter, both physically and visually. A good part of the height, however, is the domed sapphire crystal, which helps reduce the apparent height slightly.
Ordinarily such a dial would feel flat and washed out, but this is given life and depth with its blued steel hands as well as the stamped chronograph registers that are slightly sunken. Notably, the 1946 is only the third remake chronograph in Longines’ present-day catalogue to do away with the date – the other two are the Avigation BigEye and the Heritage chronograph 1940 replica, both of which are larger. In other words, the 1946 is closest in size to a vintage original. But the dial does contain an obvious, but relatively unimportant, difference: the running seconds sub-dial is at three o’clock, rather than at nine as in the original, due to the movement inside.
While the movement is widely used, the version here is an upgraded variant made for Longines, in keeping with its parent company Swatch Group’s practice of retaining upgraded movements for only its own brands. Most notably, the movement has a lengthened power reserve of 54 hours as opposed to the standard 48 hours.
The self-winding movement is hidden behind a solid case back that has been stamped with the brand’s logo from 1889, featuring a winged hourglass and “EF Co”, short for Ernest Francillon & Compagnie, the historical name of Longines. Although, it doesn’t have the flyback function made famous by Longines with the legendary 13ZN movement in the 1940s. With the case and boxy sapphire glass, the watch is fairly thick but still elegant thanks to the increased diameter which flattens the case against the wrist somewhat.
Ref: L2.827.4.73.0
Case diameter: 40mm
Height: 12mm
Material: Steel
Water resistance: 30m
Movement: L895.5 (ETA A31.L21)
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds; chronograph
Frequency: 28,800 beats per hour (4Hz)
Winding: Automatic
Power reserve: 54 hours
Strap: Black leather
Price: US$3,050, or 4530 Singapore dollars
The Story
Inspired by the historical models of the 1940s, this Longines Vintage 1946 chronograph replica has a vintage look and is elegantly worn on the wrist. There has been some notable archive plucked successes for Longines including the famous Lindbergh Hour Angle watch, designed for transatlantic aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1931. Four years earlier at the age of 27 he won the Orteig Prize for crossing the Atlantic and landing in Paris in a 33 and a half hour non-stop butt burning flight. But that’s quick in comparison to another celebrity ‘Berg’ grabbing the headlines in 2019. It took climate change activist Greta Thunberg 15 days to sail in a carbon-neutral yacht to from Plymouth, England to New York. Customers seem to love the Longines approach to traditional and classic watchmaking as today the brand forms a key component of the Swatch conglomerate, and is one of the elite few Swiss marques to bring in revenue each year of over 1 billion dollars. This latest addition to the Longines Heritage Classic collection watch fake is an elegant chronograph launched as a reinterpretation of a piece from the mid-1940s.The Case
The Longines Heritage Classic Chronograph fake features a 40 mm stainless steel case that frames a domed silvered opaline dial with two neatly sunken sub-dials, a 30-minute counter at 9 o’clock and a small-seconds counter at 3 o’clock. The oversized italicized “dolphin” Breguet style numerals dominate the silvered watch face and are typical of the forties. Pointing to these numerals are blued baton-shaped hands. The simple Longines font from the 40’s era is used as the logo at 12 o’clock.While the original is a bit of an odd watch visually, the remake looks good. The Heritage Classic Chronograph 1946 replica is nearly identical to the original, save for its size and importantly, the shape of the hands, which make quite a difference.
As with most remakes, the 1946 has been bulked up to 40mm, still a good, manageable size. The 1946 has an entirely polished case, with faceted lugs that are polished on both faces. The lugs are short so it wears smaller than the diameter suggests.
But it is thick relative to its diameter, both physically and visually. A good part of the height, however, is the domed sapphire crystal, which helps reduce the apparent height slightly.
The Dial
More importantly, the dial, in an ever so subtle off-white with a gently grained surface, is a solid reproduction of the original – with a couple of improvements. Instead of the plume (or feather-shaped) hands found on the original, the 1946 uses the widely favoured leaf shape – common but still elegant and beautiful – which improves the look and feel of the watch significantly as compared to the odd hands on the original.Ordinarily such a dial would feel flat and washed out, but this is given life and depth with its blued steel hands as well as the stamped chronograph registers that are slightly sunken. Notably, the 1946 is only the third remake chronograph in Longines’ present-day catalogue to do away with the date – the other two are the Avigation BigEye and the Heritage chronograph 1940 replica, both of which are larger. In other words, the 1946 is closest in size to a vintage original. But the dial does contain an obvious, but relatively unimportant, difference: the running seconds sub-dial is at three o’clock, rather than at nine as in the original, due to the movement inside.
The Crown
Beautiful Breguet numerals run the circumference of the dial, even if the subdials slightly chomp away 3 and 9 o’clock indices. Cushion pushers activate the chronograph functions, in keeping with the museum piece. You could also draw an invisible curved line from the start/stop pusher, over the crown and down to the reset pusher (that’s the kind of conscious detailing I appreciate). The solid steel case back features a Historic Longines logo to compensate for the lack of the winged logo on the dial. Additionally, the winged hourglass logo makes an appearance on the crown.The Movement
Inside Longines Heritage Classic watch fake is the cal. L895.5, which is actually an ETA A31.L21 made exclusively by ETA for Longines. The ETA A31.L21, in turn, is actually the widely used modular chronograph made up of an ETA 2892 with a Dubois-Depraz chronograph module on top.While the movement is widely used, the version here is an upgraded variant made for Longines, in keeping with its parent company Swatch Group’s practice of retaining upgraded movements for only its own brands. Most notably, the movement has a lengthened power reserve of 54 hours as opposed to the standard 48 hours.
The self-winding movement is hidden behind a solid case back that has been stamped with the brand’s logo from 1889, featuring a winged hourglass and “EF Co”, short for Ernest Francillon & Compagnie, the historical name of Longines. Although, it doesn’t have the flyback function made famous by Longines with the legendary 13ZN movement in the 1940s. With the case and boxy sapphire glass, the watch is fairly thick but still elegant thanks to the increased diameter which flattens the case against the wrist somewhat.
Details
Model: Longines Heritage Classic Chronograph 1946 replicaRef: L2.827.4.73.0
Case diameter: 40mm
Height: 12mm
Material: Steel
Water resistance: 30m
Movement: L895.5 (ETA A31.L21)
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds; chronograph
Frequency: 28,800 beats per hour (4Hz)
Winding: Automatic
Power reserve: 54 hours
Strap: Black leather
Price: US$3,050, or 4530 Singapore dollars
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