DRESS CODE: TUXEDO
The winged-hourglass watchmaker’s exquisite Heritage collection welcomes two new automatic watches on-board, a two-hand and small seconds model and a chronograph, inspired by historic timepieces and adorning black and white.
In the world of clothing vocabulary, a “tuxedo” is a black, or occasionally white, man’s dinner jacket, edged with satin facing on the lapels, reiterated on the matching trousers’ outseams, and set off with a bow tie. This outfit is synonymous with formal events but Tuxedo is also the name of Longines’ two newcomers which enhance the Heritage Classic collection. They draw their stylistics, based on a contrast between black and white – silvered-opaline, to be exact – from two pieces which date back to the 1940s.
This duo comprises a two-handed watch with small seconds and a chronograph, both animated by automatic hearts, the L.893 caliber which delivers a power reserve of 64 hours and the L.895 caliber which offers 54. The polished-steel cases boast two different diameters, respectively 38.5 and 40 mm and are waterproof to depths of 30 meters.
Each dial of the Heritage Classic Tuxedo duo has its own personality. On the two-hand version, a large black ring encompassing the silvered central disc and snailed small seconds at 6 o’clock hosts an hour chapter comprising Arabic numerals flaunting a vanilla color, a hue which also adorns the body of the two baton-style hour and minute hands. The chronograph’s face is graphically more complex. A blue tachymetric scale runs around the flange and embraces as such the black circle featuring the hour indexes and minute-tracker, the two satin-brushed counters (small seconds at 3 o’clock and minute totalizer at 9 o’clock).
Price: CHF1,900 (two-hand) – CHF2,850 (chronograph) www.longines.ch
By Sharmila Bertin