Longines Heritage Chronograph 1942 Review
Let’s take a close-up look at a classic and elegant Longines watch that takes you back in time.
With the trend of vintage-inspired watches it should be no surprise that many brands including Longines will show an uptick in models that strike you as a watch from another era, especially in their Heritage collection. Here is a perfect example of how a marriage between the past and the future can be quite satisfying.
Longines Heritage Chronograph 1942 Review
Like many watchmakers, Longines likes to dig deep into their archives every so often and resurrect certain watches that are deserving of another life. This is true of many of the vintage inspired watches that are re-emerging these days.
Let’s look at a watch in the Heritage collection that celebrates Longines timepieces from the 1940s era. It was a year that that signifies a major change in the world. With a very classic look and profile that can easily be tucked away comfortably under a shirt cuff, this is a perfect watch for someone in search of a combination of timeless classic design and good value in terms of a feature rich Swiss-made watch at a competitive price.
DIAL
One look at the lacquered white dial through the scratch-resistant sapphire crystal and you can see that this watch has a lot going on. The smooth white dial features blued steel hands. The central hour and minutes hands use a leaf-style design. The rest of the hands on the watch including the hands for the small seconds, chrono sub-dials and large central chrono seconds hand are baton style. A slightly rectangular-shaped date aperture rests at the 6 o’clock position and is integrated within the 12-hour counter sub dial.
NUMERALS & MARKERS
Meticulous attention to detail in the printing is another of the first things you would notice. A finely printed black tachymetric scale wraps around the dial flange. The 30-minute counter chrono sub-dial found at the 3 o’clock position and the 12-hour sub-dial found at the 6 o’clock position each have a railroad-style minute ring. Another railway-style seconds track can be found on the small running seconds sub-register located at the 9 o’clock position.
CASE
A highly polished stainless steel case measures at a comfortable size of 41mm in diameter and 14.5mm thick. It uses has a step-down design that adds a bit of depth to the look of the dial. Polished chronograph pushers grace the right side with a notched winding crown located between them. A recessed button located at the 10 o’clock position is used to adjust the date function.
WATER RESISTANCE
This timepiece only has a water resistance rating of 30m/100ft. To be straightforward, this is not considered to be much. In no way is meant to be worn while showering, swimming, diving or any other sort of water sports. It can however be worn in situations where you may come in brief contact with water such as while washing your hands but that is about the limit.
CASE BACK
The case has a transparent, scratch resistant sapphire on the case back that lets you see the quality of craftsmanship and various watch components such as the pink watch jewels and the beautifully finished L 688.2 Longines movement in action. The case back is engraved with several inscriptions including the words ‘LONGINES HERITAGE 1942’, model number L2.768.4, the unique serial number, and numerous other inscriptions that highlight certain features of the watch.
MOVEMENT
The watch is powered by a Longines caliber L 688.2 automatic column-wheel chronograph movement with an ETA A08.L01 base. This 27-jewel, self-winding mechanical caliber oscillates at 4Hz or 28’800 VPH and has a power-reserve of approximately 54 hours. The three-quarter plate is decorated with perlage, also known in the past tense as perlée, a finishing and decorative pattern of radial brushed circles and the rotor used for the automatic self-winding is finished with Côtes de Genève (Geneva stripes).
STRAP
This watch case is fastened to a black alligator leather strap that is hand-stitched with off white thread. The inside of the strap that makes contact with the wrist has a layer of soft, and comfortable calfskin leather. The leather watch band is fastened to the wrist with a steel pin buckle that is branded with the iconic Longines flying wings logo.
SPECIAL FUNCTIONS
The chrono adds a mechanical stopwatch function to your watch giving it advanced timing features. It is operated by the pushers on the right side of the case. The top button starts and stops the timer and the bottom one is used to reset the hand to the starting position. The mechanical movement in this watch uses a column wheel mechanism. This type of mechanism tends to provide smoother start/stop action than cam-actuated variety and is a fine stopwatch that offers tremendous value at this price range.