The overwhelming popularity of the HydroConquest collection steals the limelight from other Longines products. That is why, for the Summer issue, we feel the need to present another model from the Heritage segment for a change. The Longines Legend Diver Watch — now available in coloured versions — represents a very important chapter in the history of the winged hourglass brand, as well as of the diver communities.

Back in 1959, Longines — on their endless quest to achieve improvements — developed a 42 mm dive watch with a crown-operated rotating inner disc under the crystal instead of an external bezel like other dive watches at the time. The idea was to ensure that the crucial timing component could not be damaged by an outside environment while the diver went about his activities.

In recent times, Longines responded to renewed interest in retro-style watches (not a trend but a long-running collecting area) by bringing said timepiece back to life in 2007 as the Longines Legend Diver Watch. However, this year marks the first time that the watch can be had in a colour other than the standard black. The new options at the moment include blue and brown — both logical choices considering the fact that blue is the other black, while brown always reminds one of maturity and the days gone by.

The Legend Diver is presented in a 42mm stainless steel case that is water-resistant to 300 metres, in accordance with modern standards. Under the box-shaped sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, the shaded dial in blue or brown features mixed use of hour markers and Arabic numerals, as well as luminescent squares and rectangles in pretty much the same fashion as the late 1950s original.

Worn on a leather strap that matches the dial colour, this literally legendary timepiece is powered by the Calibre L888.5 (ETA A31.L11) with a silicon balance spring; it thus comes with a five-year warranty.

This story first appeared on Men’s Folio.