Review: Rebirth of a Legend – Longines Skin Diver

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The Longines Legend Diver, since its inception in 2013, has been one of the biggest hits from the Switzerland-based watch manufacturer The watch is part of the brand’s popular Heritage collection, which draws its inspiration from its archives of more than 185 years This year, Longines had taken it up a notch – with the new Skin Diver Watch 

The Skin Diver is Longines’ first diver watch.

First launched in 1959, the Skin Diver offers users a sleek tool watch that is both functional and stunning It was only produced for around two short years, before it was succeeded by the Legend Diver.

Recently, in Baselworld 2018, Longines expanded its Heritage collection and relaunched the Skin Diver The timepiece is a homage to the brand’s first diver watch, and we reckon that it is a fitting tribute to one of the most important watches in Longines’ history

 

Longines Skin Diver: The Case, Dial, and Hands

 

The Longines Skin Diver – a fitting tribute to the original version

 

The idea of the Skin Diver is to pay homage to the original version – and Longines had done a brilliant job in the execution of their latest piece.

The 42mm watch has a number of vintage and aged touches to it, and making the watch seems older than what it actually is In fact, this is probably how the watch would have look like, if it had aged gracefully and survived till today However, due to the original piece’s short production period, we reckon that the chances of seeing the 1959 version is close to nought

 

A close-up of the Longines Skin Diver

 

We begin with one of the most conspicuous elements of the watch: the watch’s dial.

The grained black dial is a reminiscent of the Skin Diver of the yesteryears – with its faux-patina indices and the use of classic fonts In addition, the hands with the faux patina also complements the vintage feel of the timepiece Its intended effect is to replicate the ageing of the tritium that was applied on the dial, without the need of the ageing process and the use of the bio-hazardous material.

These different elements bring a neat touch, and the romantic side of us was sold by how stunning the watch turned out.

 

The Skin Diver is a stunning piece – with a very nice vintage touch to it.

 

The stainless steel watch is contrasted with a black uni-directional rotating PVD bezel The bezel is a replication of the original version, and it gives the watch an interesting aesthetic To top it off, the watch is fitted with a domed sapphire crystal, to highlight its vintage feel

 

The Movement: Calibre L8882

 

The caseback of the Skin Diver is solid, but it features an embossed diver symbol

 

The Skin Diver is fitted with an ETA-based movement.

The self-winding engine beats at 25,200 bph, and it boasts a decent power reserve of approximately 64 hours This is notably the improved version of the ETA 2892 movement that it is based on, in which []

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