Image

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).

Longines Legend Diver

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.

Longines Automatic Diver

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.

Longines Automatic Diver

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.

Longines Automatic Diver

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.

Subscribe to TWL to get original content like this direct to your inbox.

Tom Mulraney
Tom Mulraney
Founder & Editor
Tom likes to write about luxury watches. So much so, that he created The Watch Lounge just so he would have an outlet for his passion. Together with his team, he is dedicated to bringing you original, entertaining (and maybe even a little educational) luxury watch and lifestyle content.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *