Play it again, Sam – The Longines 1946 Chronograph

The time has come again for Longines, with Swiss reliability, to reach deep amongst the mothballs and pull out a vintage chronograph, this time from 1946. Modernize it a bit and install solid ETA technology – the caliber L895.5 (ETA A31.L21) with a 54-hour power reserve – and Bob’s your uncle.

The reference L2.827.4.73.0 is new and, at the same time, isn’t. Already by the 1940s the idea had occurred that dauphin numerals, feuille hands made of blued steel, and two totalizers at 3 and 9 o’clock on an opalized silver dial actually made a nice impression. Place the exceptional letters LONGINES, in an elegant font, beneath the 12, and the whole thing is sure to be a great success. As a slight nod to modernity, though, they have increased the dial size from the original 38 mm to 40 mm – certainly more in line with today’s tastes and less an homage to the decade when the forebear’s customers were so delighted by its reliable elegance.

Some things can certainly be repeated well; are we bothered by a single repetition in a playlist thousands of songs long? Even in Casablanca (also from the 40s – coincidence?) Humphrey Bogart admonished “Play it again, Sam!” But if there’s just the one song on the playlist, it will surely get boring at some point. Longines seems able to sell its numerous retro models from the Heritage series well, or else the product managers in Saint-Imier certainly wouldn’t keep coming up with “new” ones. And yet I wouldn’t mind a little more courage. Longines is certainly good at the technical aspects of watchmaking: if a non-mechanical watch can be cited, the Conquest VHO is an incredibly accurate quartz watch and an excellent example. This is the kind of intrepid design I would like to see in more of their new designs, even if I can’t really say no to the 1946 – at the end of the day it’s just too beautiful. If you want to have all the cold facts about this Longines, we have more than enough in our first look at the watch.