Hands-On: The Longines Flagship Heritage, Now With A Moonphase
When reviewing a watch, the correct question to ask isn’t exactly “Do I, the reviewer, like this watch?” That’s actually a pretty boring, simple, and inherently subjective question. The more interesting and relevant question is something like: “Does this watch successfully accomplish what it sets out to do?” Can this dive watch be used for diving or can this pilot’s watch be used by pilots?
The question for dressy watches is a little different and driven more by aesthetics, though with function still in mind: questions like the trite “Can this watch slip under a cuff?” become top of mind.
The new Longines Flagship Heritage is quick to grab your attention. It has a clean dial, moonphase, a 38.5mm diameter that suggests easy wearing, and it’s priced at a reasonable $3,050. But does it successfully achieve what it sets out to? And what is a moonphase like this even setting out to do nowadays?
At 12.4mm thick, the Flagship Heritage is thicker than you’d like for a moonphase with elegant ambitions. On the wrist, it sits relatively tall and flat. This is also thanks to the caseback sitting lower than the lugs – place the Flagship Heritage on a table and only the caseback will rest on it, with the lugs floating slightly higher. This also occurs when the watch is on your wrist, meaning it doesn’t have the curved, draping profile I prefer on dressier watches.
Longines chose a sportier (but more compact) case profile for the Flagship Heritage compared to previous moonphases like the Master Collection. The Flagship Heritage measures 47mm lug-to-lug, with the lugs having polished facets that give way to a brushed midcase. The screw-down caseback has Longines’ flagship gold-and-blue-enamel emblem and provides the Flagship Heritage 30 meters of water resistance, expected for a watch like this.
The crown sits relatively low into the midcase thanks to the moonphase module that’s added onto the base caliber. Inside ticks the Longines caliber L899.5, based on an ETA caliber from parent Swatch Group. It uses a simple moonphase complication driven by a disk with 59 teeth and two moon disks printed on it, advancing one tooth per day. A lunar month is about 29.5 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2 seconds to get specific about it), so this implementation is what you’d expect for a moonphase that comes in at three grand.
The Flagship Heritage Moonphase comes with three dial options, all offered in a steel case: an opaline silver with gold-tone accents or either silver or blue with white-metal accents, the last of which I went hands-on with. The blue features a sunray finish, with circular graining on the moonphase and date subdial providing contrast. The dauphine hands are polished and have Super-LumniNova; it bothers me a bit that there is no lume to match on the dial – traditionally, lumed hands would be paired with a luminous dial (in vintage watches, this can be a bit of a shortcut in recognizing whether a dial and hands were born together). The dial is also slightly domed, a feature that seems accentuated by the matching domed crystal. The Flagship Heritage Moonphase is paired with a matching alligator strap – I’d quickly swap out the dressy choice for something more casual that fits the 19mm lug width.
The moonphase itself is a little plain – I’d love for brands to bring back the days of the man in the moon à la a UG Tri-Compax, but that’s a story for another day (even Breguet recently killed off my guy in its recently-updated QP). But so few comparable moonphases exist at this price point, it’s not the right place to complain about the execution of the moonphase itself.
The Flagship Heritage Moonphase measures 12.4mm thick.
The Longines Flagship Heritage Moonphase is a difficult watch to write about. Because while you could nitpick these details, the answer to that question I started with – does this watch successfully do what it sets out to do? – might still be yes. It’s just that the Longines Flagship Heritage sets out to do something different than what a died-in-the-wool enthusiast like you or me might want or expect of it. Moonphases aren’t particular functional or useful (or even that accurate), so a moonphase is for people that are into the vibe or the idea of a moonphase. The anachronism of a moonphase. And if you’re into the outdated idea of a moonphase, maybe you’re into the anachronism that is the mechanical watch. You might not care that the case is too sporty or thick thanks to compromises in the movement; not yet, at least.
The other dial colors of the Flagship Heritage: silver…
…and opaline with gold-colored accents.
The Longines Flagship Heritage Moonphase sets out to be a dressy watch with an old-school complication for someone who’s not all the way into watches yet. It’s clean and well-executed, even if I can quibble with how it wears on the wrist and it doesn’t exactly pass the “under the cuff” test. But who’s wearing a cuff nowadays anyway?
It’s not a watch for me but that’s far from the most important question, and Longines makes plenty of nice watches for me already – the Longines Master Collection Small Seconds or Longines Heritage Sector or maybe even the new Spirit Zulu Time in 39mm. This watch sets out to do something different, and it accomplishes that just fine.
The Longines Flagship Heritage Moonphase measures 38.5mm in diameter (47mm lug-to-lug) and 12.4mm thick. It’s powered by the Longines caliber L899.5, beating at 3.5 Hz and with a 72-hour power reserve. Stainless steel case has 30 meters of water resistance and comes with three dial options: opaline silver with gold-tone accents or either silver or blue with white-metal accents. MSRP: $3,050. For more, visit Longines.com. The Hodinkee Shop is also an authorized retailer of Longines watches; see its full collection here.
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The Hodinkee Shop is an authorized retailer of Longines watches. For more on the new Longines Flagship Moonphase, visit Longines.com.
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