Longines Unveils Record Heritage Watch for 2022
Wednesday - 26 October 2022
The new Longines Record Heritage watch for 2022 is a throwback to the 1930s and 1940s. The watch is a love letter to this era with its vintage-inspired aesthetic, fused with the first tachymeter chronograph to enter the Record collection
Quietly sneaking back onto the radar of vintage watch enthusiasts is the chronograph look from the 1930s and 1940s. The Longines Record Heritage watch is a timepiece that captures the spirit of this era perfectly, with a slightly thicker case depth than its slimmer hand-wound siblings from the past. Compact too, the watch measures a 40mm diameter and joins a range that previously only offered dressy pieces. Borrowing features from some of Longines’ most desirable chronograph watches from the archives, the new Longines Record Heritage watch has the potential to be the king of the Record collection.
When it was released in 2017, the Record watch series was Longines’s first all-COSC-certified collection of wristwatches. A watch certified to the standards set by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute is not a rare thing, but the fact that Longines has dedicated the last few years to really listening to its customers certainly makes the brand stand out from the rest. Getting COSC certification does not come cheap, however. But the Longines Record watch collection is a family of classic dress watches that gives you more for your money. It also means the watch movement must reach an average daily rate of between -4 to +6 seconds a day. The new Longines Record Heritage watch meets these requirements, like all other watches from this series, and makes sure you won’t be running late for any of your appointments.
The new Longines Record Heritage watch
All of the applied indexes, the scales and the hands of the new Longines Record Heritage are rendered in beautiful golden tones and fixed against a rich black backdrop. The Arabic numerals around the hour track are alternated with elegant stick markers, framed by a golden tachymeter scale for measuring distance based on speed. It gives the timepiece a very sporty character, especially when you take into account the snailed centre of the chronograph sub-counters laid out in a bicompax format at 3 and 6 o’clock. The two counters, with legible gilt scales, provide a small running seconds at 3 o’clock, balanced by a 30-minute counter at 9 o’clock. The central chronograph second hand joins the feuille-shaped hour and minute hand, whilst the Longines hourglass logo and lettering positioned at 12 o’clock complete the rest of the dial design perfectly. What makes the new Longines Record Heritage watch even more intriguing is the fact that the brand chooses to execute the dial in a matte effect as opposed to glossy.
The case of the new Longines Record Heritage watch is athletic, with longer extending lugs that combine nicely with unchamfered edges and polished top surfaces. Framing the dial of this vintage chronograph model is a rounded polished bezel that tops a case crafted entirely from stainless steel. The case is also 30-meter water resistant and houses the L895.4 automatic chronograph movement within its neat dimensions. Even nicer are the brightly polished push pieces at 2 and 4 o’clock, crafted into an oval shape. Nestled in between these two push-pieces is a toothed screw-in crown engraved with the Longines lettering. In an industry awash with circular-shaped push-pieces, the Record Heritage chronograph differentiates itself very cleverly in this new way.
The new Longines Record Heritage chronograph is powered by the automatic L895.4 automatic chronograph movement. The engine is based on an ETA movement but also promises some significant modifications such as a silicon balance spring and some beautiful perlage decoration across the bridges. The movement performs at a rate of 28,800 vibrations per hour and delivers an impressive power reserve of 59 hours once fully wound. A custom cut-out winding rotor is also put on show through the chronograph’s sapphire crystal exhibition caseback, adorned with Côtes de Genève decoration and a gold-inlaid engraved signature.
A warm brown saddle tan leather strap completes the vintage look of the new Longines Record Heritage watch, equipped with a Longines-engraved stainless steel deployment clasp. If you’d like more information on the brand’s first tachymeter chronograph, you can read up on the spec list here, or call and speak to a member of the Jura Watches sales team on 01335 453453
