Hands-On The Longines Legend Diver Gets A Summer-Ready White Dial

While there's something to be said about the saturation of vintage re-release models in the past five years, the Legend Diver has long been a staple of the Longines dive watch lineup since 2007 and has held its own. With last year's trio of more contemporary colorways, Longines has started to shift the line to appeal to a broader audience, most likely those looking for tool watch specs but with a more everyday look. And this new white dial, with a sharp contrast between the matte white and all black indices and printing, hits that sweet spot for me.

On the new dial, everything found in white on the previous dials has now been inverted to a flat black, and the three-dimensional applied hour markers are coated in a rough texture to stand out from the rest of the dial. This texture extends over to the hour, minutes, and seconds hands for continued contrast, and it's a nice touch for a bit of toolish ruggedness to the otherwise very clean design.

A prominent box crystal sits high, covering both the dial and the matching internal rotating bezel. Two screw-down crowns on the side of the case, both with compressor-inspired cross-hatching, operate all the functions. The crown at two o'clock manipulates the internal bezel in both directions, while the crown below it sets the time and manually winds the watch. While the internal bezel does not have a ratcheting system, I found that the crown provided enough resistance to allow me to align the bezel as I pleased.

Of course, white dial divers are not the most practical for actual diving. But for an everyday summer watch, and for all the fellow desk divers out there, it's one to note. Most other specs here remain identical to the other 39mm Legend Divers: the case is 39mm in diameter with a thickness of 12.7mm. While the styling remains faithful to the EPSA supercompressor cases that Longines used back in the late 50s and early 60s, the modern Legend Diver borrows the iconic styling (and ensures a 300m water resistance) but does not use the gasket system that gives the supercompressor case its name.

On the wrist, the 47mm lug-to-lug makes the 39mm Legend Diver quite comfortable for a variety of wrist sizes. The lugs are compact, and the bracelet endlinks downturn immediately. Speaking of the bracelet, the beads-of-rice bracelet looks good and suits the watch. It is well-made, although screwed links would have been preferable to the pin system used here. What the bracelet does have going for it in comparison to many other watches at its $3,550 price point is the tool-less micro-adjust clasp. It offers four positions of adjustment through a pusher on the wrist side of the clasp, and is very easy to operate.

Inside the watch and behind the solid caseback is the ETA-based L888 caliber. The automatic movement features 72 hours of power reserve, a silicon balance spring, and COSC certification, ensuring that the watch stays within -4 to +6 seconds per day. I'm sure that the absence of a date window here makes many folks reading this very happy.

Between models like the Legend Diver and the GMTs of the Spirit Zulu Time line, Longines continues to present itself as a frontrunner in well-priced luxury tool watches, and this new white dial Legend Diver is no exception. I'm sure just about anyone getting to spend some time with this new model could proclaim it as a candidate for watch of the summer, and they'd be absolutely right.

For more information, visit Longines.