A delayed #VintageWatchFridays entry this week but also a fitting one for the wet start to the New York summer; the Longines Automatic Diver.
Longines Automatic Diver
Whether you’re a vintage watch buff or not I am sure that the piece now before you seems familiar in some way or another. That’s probably because a few years ago Longines brought this very cool watch back to life in the form of the vintage re-issue ‘Legend Diver’ (pictured below).
As you can in the photos, the brand did not make too many deviations from the original design of the Longines Automatic Diver (as least as far as the dial is concerned, anyway) and to be fair, why would they? It was already a very handsome looking and practical watch back in the 1960’s, there’s not really much more they could have done to improve it aesthetically, even if they wanted too.
As you have no doubt already figured out (the name is kind of a dead giveaway) the original Longines Automatic Diver was developed with recreational divers in mind. As such, it features a large 42mm steel case (it was large for the time) and an internal rotating bezel that measures elapsed time, which is controlled via the crown at two o’clock. A secondary crown at 4 o’clock allows you to set the time.
The dial of this Longines Automatic Diver is in surprisingly good shape for its age, as is the case, which features a screw back centred by the emblem of a diver holding a harpoon. Inside is the Cal. 19AS nickel-finished lever movement, a fairly basic automatic movement that allows the watch to show the hours and minutes, as well as small seconds on secondary central hand.
This particular Longines Automatic Diver is fitted on a leather strap with a stainless steel Longines buckle and look seriously cool on the wrist. Plus at just US$4,900 it’s not hard to imagine this watch as your daily wearer for the summer.
Unfortunately for you and me though, it’s already been sold.
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