Few brands have seen as much sustained success with their vintage-inspired designs as has Longines. With a slew of recent additions to retro-chic Heritage collection — among them the Heritage Classic Chronograph 1946, Heritage Military 1938, and Heritage Classic Tuxedo — the Saint-Imier based brand has built upon its long history to enhance its contemporary appeal.

In the past year, whether as a result of changing consumer tastes or a reduced pool of historical designs to draw from, Longines has noticeably shifted its focus, from faithfully re-creating vintage designs to launch new models to revisiting previously released models with new materials and colorways. We first witnessed this in launch of the Heritage Legend Diver in bronze in fall of 2020, followed by the Avigation BigEye in titanium a few months later. At the start of this summer, the brand released its latest model in this vein, the new Heritage Classic Black “Sector Dial,” a 1930s-inspired time-only watch that follows up the successful silver-dial edition launched in 2019. Recently, we had an opportunity to go hands-on with the timepiece.

At first glance, the new black-dialed edition has much of the same intrigue as its silver-dialed predecessor, with its simple brushed steel case serving as a simple canvas for the fascinating dial that gives the watch its name and serves as its undisputed main draw. The overall look is formal and dressy but versatile, the sectored layout of the brushed outer area contrasting wonderfully with the matte inner portion and engine-turned, indented small seconds scale. Printed silver markers produced in a vintage style are put to effective use for each hour and minute position, in elegant parallel with the small seconds counter that features a similar aesthetic. A pair of elongated stick hands serves to count the passing hours and minutes, sweeping steadily over a vintage Longines logo.

On the wrist, the 38.5-mm by 11-mm steel case feels comfortable and balanced, with slim, slightly curved lugs characteristic of vintage styling; a sturdy, deeply toothed crown; and a flat bezel rather than the more common rounded styles found in similar models. The watch we had in for review was secured to the wrist by a “cognac” leather strap with a simple pin buckle, which was easily the least impressive part of the watch. Longines does additionally offer the option of a beads-of-rice-style steel bracelet for the 30-meter water-resistant watch, which would likely complement its mostly formal look a bit better.

Opposite the sector dial under its sapphire crystal is a solid, laser-engraved caseback that protects the movement with what appears to be a snap closure. Behind it, the Longines Caliber L893 resides, the automatic mechanism based upon the A31.501. The 26 jewel movement beats at an uncommon frequency of 25,200 vph, and features a silicon balance spring and 72-hour power reserve.

Like many previous Longines Heritage collection models, the Classic Black “Sector Dial” recalls classic pieces from the past, in this case the so-called sector-dial watches from the 1930s, so named for their two-part designs. When it launched the original model in 2019, Longines placed its historical 1930s inspiration front and center alongside it (below, 2019 version right, vintage edition left), and has yet to provide such a direct comparison for this version. While black sector-dial watches were also produced during this era, it’s possible Longines may not have one in its archives that it could use as historical source material for the newer model.

Longines’ expansion of the sector-dial style seems to speak to a broader strategy for the Heritage collection — one of steadily shifting focus, from finding new vintage designs to reproduce, to instead recontextualizing existing designs with new colorways and materials. The brand has seemingly perfected the art of producing this style of watch for an interested and growing niche of buyers, after being one of the first watchmakers to embrace it, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down its focus on the category anytime soon.

The Longines Heritage Classic Black “Sector Dial” is available now at authorized boutiques and directly via Longines, priced at $2,350 on a steel bracelet and $2,150 on a leather strap.

To learn more, visit Longines, here.

The winged hourglass brand is now launching the Longines Pilot Majetek Pioneer Edition in a dark grey titanium version. Limited to 1,935 pieces as a nod to its birth year, it is chronometer-certified by the COSC.

At 9 o’clock, the exterior of the 43mm Grade 5 titanium case bears an engraved “1935” commemorative plaque. It houses an innovative gear mechanism guaranteeing water resistance up to 10 bar (100 meters) for the external fluted rotating bezel system, which is coupled to the internal luminescent mobile triangle marker or “starting time indicator”. The latter is positioned under the sapphire crystal, from which it is independent, and above the dial. On the historic 1935 model, the bezel and the glass containing the marker rotated as a single unit. In the current model, the sapphire crystal is fixed and contributes to the water resistance of the new case.

The Longines Pilot Majetek has a matt black grained dial. The hours are indicated by raised Arabic numerals treated with gray Superluminova with bluish luminescence and accentuated by a railway-style minute track. Baton hands skim over them, also coated in gray Superluminova with bluish luminescence. The oversized, slightly recessed small‑second dial at 6 o’clock, is a reminder, together with the fluted bezel, of the original functional character of this pilot’s watch.

Behind the closed and engraved case back ticks the exclusive Longines caliber L893.6. Equipped with a silicon balance-spring and other innovative components, this self-winding movement offers a resistance to magnetism that exceeds the requirements of the ISO 674 standard by a factor of more than ten, and has a power reserve of up to 72 hours.

The Longines Pilot Majetek is attached to a black fabric strap and retails for $5,000.

To learn more, visit Longines, here.

Criticism and watch journalism have always been on edge with one another. One could argue that there is a great dependency between the writing press and the watch brands. Even at WatchTime, many of the brands we cover also advertise with us, so we better be nice to them, or not? We are indeed, but the general conviction among myself and my fellow editors and contributors is that when constructive criticism is in place, it should be given. It not only ensures correct representation towards the most important people in the WatchTime universe, you as our readers, but it also helps the brands to become even better than they already are.

As Editor-at-Large, nobody tells me what to write. While this may seem to be the privilege of a senior position, it is not, as nobody here has to write something they don’t want to. While we come from different walks of life and have a wide variety of interests, we all share a deep passion for watchmaking. We strongly believe that you need to read this passion in what we write, so when you don’t feel passionate about the subject, you shouldn’t write about it. So perhaps it says more about the watches we don’t cover than the watches we do.

While it is crucial to remain critical, so is to give credit where credit is due. When I started writing about two decades ago, there were still some watches that didn’t live up to their expectations. The industry has grown bounds and leaps every since. When I look at the watches presented by brands such as Oris, Seiko, Tissot, or Longines, the quality is often very impressive, even at their entry-level models. They are so good that they come with the obligation for higher-tier brands to do even better, a challenge to which many are happy to oblige. So when I write about watches that I feel passionate about, there is often not that much to complain about. But as the perfect watch has yet to be built, there are still the pros and cons that need to be presented and explained to you, our readers. Not because they are good or bad, but more so that you can form an educated opinion about what matters to you and what doesn’t. So when my colleagues and I sound pretty excited about the watches we write about, it is not because we get told to do so, but because we picked the topics we actually like to begin with. Call it a perk of the job, as we get paid anyway.

As we like to keep things positive, let us know in the comments the watch that, in recent years, impressed you the most!

Watches have become noticeably more colorful during the past decade. As recently as 2010, luxury watches were still mainly an achromatic affair — with white or black dials and silvery steel cases, at most there was a singular red hand. But this situation soon changed. Colorful dials and bracelets became more frequent, and materials like rubber invited designers to play with color. In the second half of the decade, watches at first became blue, and later, more and more models appeared in green. Both trends continue to this day. But in 2021, a completely different hue moved into the limelight: gray.

The surprising thing is that none of these gray watches looks gray — at least, not in the sense that people often associate with gray — drab, boring or inconspicuous. These watches are different. They stride onto a watch stage that is much more colorful and diverse than ever before. Today, any color is conceivable, even for a luxury watch, both in terms of technical feasibility and public acceptance. A watch that’s gray could just as easily be green, blue or red. Against this background, the conscious decision in favor of gray becomes a statement, and the effect is totally different than it would have been in 2010.

At the same time, gray is the antithesis to the world of colorful diversity. It invites its viewer to rest, pause and take a breather. Gray has another fascinating quality: it’s not one-dimensional because not all grays are the same. On the one hand, this is due to the proportions of white and black, which make the gray look darker or lighter. On the other hand, some gray tones look almost colorful because they change to green, blue or brown, depending on the lighting.

A version of this article appears in the WatchTime Special Design Issue 2022, on sale now.

Chronograph (stopwatch), chronometer (precision certificate), tourbillon (an escapement to increase accuracy) and Geneva Waves (a traditional Swiss decoration technique): the horological dictionary is full of terminology that gets enthusiasts excited but may mean very little to outsiders. However, some expressions are self-explanatory, such as the subdials.

As their name suggests, these are small dials that display various functions across the main dial. The more complex the watch, the more of these subdials are needed. They are particularly common on calendar watches, which provide information on the current day of the week, month and date, such as the Vacheron Constantin Traditionelle Complete Calendar, shown above.

Other functions that are usually displayed on subdials are the power reserve indicator and the GMT indication. The moon-phase indication, one of the oldest and most charming complications, is also usually shown on a subdial. It has a particularly refined entrance on this Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon Moon by Jaeger-LeCoultre.

One special type of subdials are the so-called totalizers or counters, which indicate the elapsed minutes and hours on chronographs, like on this Seventies Chronograph Panorama Date by Glashütte Original.

However, a subdial does not necessarily have to be round, but can also echo the cushion shape of the case or displayed on a sector, which is often the case with retrograde displays, when a hand jumps back to zero before it starts its journey again, like on Maurice Lacroix’s Triple Rétrograde Masterpiece.

Despite its name, a subdial can also display the main time. This is called an off-centered time display.

One of the best-known examples is the Lange 1 from A. Lange & Söhne, whose harmonious layout with off-centered hours and minutes, power reserve display, large date and small seconds has written history in modern times.

Speaking of small seconds or subsidiary seconds, they are the most common function displayed on a subdial. In particular, it lends a nostalgic touch to classic three-hand timepieces, such as the above pictured The Longines Heritage Classic – Tuxedo.

Do you have a favorite subdial-equipped timepiece? Let us know in comments, below!