Page 43 - Sharp September 2023

SHIPS IN THE NIGHT
LONGINES’ LATEST FLAGSHIP HERITAGE MODEL SHOOTS FOR THE MOON
By Jonathan Wells
T HE SHIP ON THE BACK OF LONGINES’ LATEST WATCH IS THE
same sailing vessel you’ll find on many other models in the Maison’s Flagship collection. It’s called a “caravel,” a type of 16th century schooner that the Portuguese once used to explore Africa’s expansive Atlantic Coast. With their angled sails and shallow keels, such boats were agile and nimble, allowing sailors to steer their way through tricky, uncharted waters with relative ease. And in this pursuit of mapping shorelines, seafarers would use celestial navigation and astronomical tables to get their bearings, looking to the stars above for guidance. It’s a historical detail that makes Longines’ new Flagship Heritage model even more evocative, because, while the image of a swashbuckling caravel can be found engraved onto an 18kt gold medallion on the watch’s screw-down back, the movement it shields has a similarly sky-gazing feature: a moon-phase complication.
It’s the first watch in the history of the Flagship range to be fitted with the astronomical function, and this hallmark of the watch’s self-winding mechanical movement (Longines’ Caliber L899.5, which boasts an up to 72-hour power reserve) can be found reading out the moon’s current phase, whether waxing or waning, on a small dial at 6 o’clock. The Flagship Heritage Moonphase is available in three traditional dress watch designs with dials of opaline silver, sunray silver, or sunray blue, and each model matches the colour of its moon-phase and date indicator hand with the
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hour markers and hour, minute, and second hands.
Like many modern timepieces, this latest release from Longines
takes its design cues directly from the brand’s archives. The distinctive domed dial, for example, which curves very slightly down at its edges, was inspired by the inaugural Flagship from 1957. But the watchmaker is also committed to updating the design for a contemporary market, which means that this new model is a sturdier, hardier offering than any of the pieces created before it. It boasts a strong steel case, offering a sufficiently sailor-worthy (if not deep sea-steeled) water resistance of 30 metres, and a silicon balancespring that provides both resistance to magnetic fields and unrivalled precision. There are also several more stylish upgrades to be appreciated, including broad Dauphine hands daubed in radiant Super-LumiNova, satin-brushed finishes, and shortened chambered lugs, which ensure that this 38.5 mm model feels wearable on any wrist.
Even the buckle on its leather strap (available in supple shades of brown, grey, or blue, depending on the model) is new; a Heritage pin clasp in silver to match the colour of the case. But it’s the moonphase that really makes this one tick. Large enough to be legible but not so distracting that it busies the dial, the monochrome design of this particular moonphase has a restrained quality watchmakers often overshoot. It may, admittedly, be slightly larger than the subdial of Longines’ latest Master Collection Moonphase, but its bold contrast and simple motifs make it feel classic; a truer representation of the real night sky — and the stars beneath which those Portuguese caravels once sailed.