A DATE ENGRAVED IN HISTORY
The 1832 collection, named after the year the Saint-Imier brand was established, continues to grow, welcoming new models in two different diameters but, above all, boasting highly-useful displays and complications.
1832 is a date engraved in history for the winged-hourglass brand as it is the year the comptoir d’établissage (watchmaking counter) was opened in Saint-Imier, in the Berne Jura, by Auguste Agassiz (1809-1877). Very quickly, the watches produced in Les Longines, this locality in the valley which would become the name of the brand, were acclaimed on a worldwide scale, with customers praising their reliability and sustainability. Faithful to its roots, Longines created a collection baptized 1832 which it now complements with the arrival of five models, all hosting automatic calibers.
In this new series, two different diameters are proposed for the steel case, a 30 mm one for the L4.325 models and a 40 mm one for the L4.825, L4.826 and L4.827; two dial variations, intense black for most and ivory mother-of-pearl topped with diamonds for the precious L4.325 version; and four automatic movements, all designed on an ETA base but vibrating at different frequencies and delivering power reserves of some 40 hours for the small formats and 64 hours for the rest of the collection.
Aside from the stone-set model, the stylistic codes on the dial are pretty much the same: the matte-black disc is decorated with an hour chapter featuring silvered, rectangular, faceted indexes hovered over by a pair of Dauphine-style hour and minute hands coated with white Super-LumiNova® and a direct-direct-drive for the seconds, encircled by a circular-grained finished minute tracker. The 1832 collection’s L4.325 and L4.825 display the date in an aperture at 3 o’clock, the L4.826 a moon phase completed by a date ticked over by a hand at 6 o’clock and the L4.827 a double aperture with the month and date displayed in a silvered frame.
These new Longines are worn on black or brown alligator straps and also exist with an off-white dial.
Price: CHF1,700 (automatic 30 and 40 mm) – CHF2,030 (moon phases and full calendar) – CHF2,050 (set mother-of-pearl dial) www.longines.ch
By Sharmila Bertin