LONGINES Legend Diver BLUE

It’s all about that gradient! If like me you’ve just about had your fill of the sunburst / sunray dial trend (nice as they are) that’s taken the watch industry literally by storm (solar storm) then perhaps you’ll appreciate the latest trend for gradient dials.

I’m sure you know what gradients dials are about but just in case you’ve been living under rock – the gradient dial was fist popularized by Rolex (at least in the diver’s segment) when they released a special blue dial edition of the Deepsea known as the D-BLUE 

(btw Rolex wanted to call it “deep blue” but couldn’t owing to the already established Deep Blue Watches brand) –

I digress; the D-Blue had a unique gradient blue dial where the colors graduated from blue to an inky black from top to bottom emulating the ocean which gets darker the deeper you go. I can’t think of any other watches with dials that do it that way. Anyway the more common way is to graduate from the center of the dial outward which btw also kinda’ mimics tropic dials which have naturally patina’d over time fading in their centers while keeping a portion of their original color around the edges. Okay, there you have it - gradient dials 101 from someone who is no expert. ;)

For 2021 the emblematic Longines Legend Diver has been released with two gradient dials – one in a lovely blue and another in an equally appealing brown giving Longines’ famous compressor-style diver which dates back to the 50s when the OG model first surfaced a whole new lease of life; 

however these aren’t in fact the first Legend Diver family’s models to come with trendy gradient dials – the new BRONZE and 36MM watches also have them.

Shaded (here) in blue, ref. L3.774.4.90.2’s lacquered dial features graduated shading that gets darker the farther you move out from the center. The new blue dial is with luminous hands, hour markers interspersed with luminescent squares and Arabic numerals enhanced with Super-LumiNova rectangles for optimum visibility. Once you’ve taken into account the new dial color and perhaps the blue textile strap that the watch comes on; the new Legend Diver Blue remains unchanged from the 42mm, 300m water-resistant model on which it is based.

Basic spec. includes a Stainless steel case with dual crowns; one for time changing and second for operating the watch’s internal diver’s bezel. 

The crowns are finished with crosshatching echoing the OG model. An old school box-shaped Sapphire crystal and the Legend Diver’s iconic spear diver engraved on the case-back further add to the watch’s retro styling that faithfully recalls the OG model.

Not recalling the 1950s model however is the watch’s Caliber L888.5 (base ETA A31.L11) automatic movement which boasts an Si balance-spring protecting the watch from magnetic-fluxes. The self-wining movement has autonomy of 64 hours. 

This new model of the Longines Legend Diver Watch also comes with a 5-year manufactures’ warranty.