Did Mido destroy Longines?

Nope. Not even close.

I like the colours on the Mido (I'm all for colour) and it looks like a fun watch, but for me this particular reference falls short of the Longines in several areas. Not that I've handled the Mido! But then I'm not sure they're courting the same customer - one is a playful day watch and the other is a more sophisticated dress piece.

So, the finishing on the dial and the subdials on the Longines is patterned but the Mido is flat. In fact, even though there are several levels and indents and indices etc, the overall look is flat. I'm not sure how they pulled that off.

The Longines has painted numerals but the Mido only has applied batons. Normally I prefer batons to digits but the script used on the Longines is beautiful. Of course the batons help make the Mido more legible, but less dressy.

The Mido's case is vertical down to the dial whereas the Longines has a chapter ring to soften the edge. Just a small but elegant difference.

There are also a couple of brain fart moments on the Mido. Firstly, what were they thinking of with the gold sun? It grates against the lemon yellow. Maybe that's just me using my arty glasses, but the colours do not marry. Just use a yellow - it's right there, already on the dial! Second is the handset, the silver doesn't stand out. On some watches that works, but when you have a dial this busy those hands are obviously wrong. Longines has blued hands for contrast. I do like Mido's yellow crescent for the day indicator though, a really nice touch. Oh, brain fart 3, that strap. Come on!! (iirc the Longines is an odd strap width, so they didn't cover themselves in glory either).

So is the extra finesse worth the extra cash? I think they're just different watches aimed at different people.

Hey!

Thanks for the great response. I think you make some excellent points, even if I find them slightly subjective

What is more classy, dressy, artsy, or tasteful will vary by individual, but I do agree that these two watches target different consumers, and I would go as far as saying that there's room in the same collection for both of these watches

I also agree that the gold is a bit weird on the Mido monophase. Not terrible, but white might have been a better choice

Color and bracelet aside, If you look at this watch from a manufacturing perspective, it has many more similarities than differences, and some aspects of the Mido are manufactured with slightly more detail (like the hands, pushers, case, and bezel )

Yes, the Mido dial doesn't use fake guilloche texture, but the subdials are the same, and the difference of the in-chapter ring doesn't equate to any tangible difference in cost

Taste aside. The only tangible nonsubjective difference is the column wheel modification on the Longines Valjoux, but the Mido has a new Valjoux version with a free-sprung balance wheel 🤷🏻‍♂️

The column wheel mod is the only non-subjective feature to justify the $1000 price difference. Don't get me wrong, the column wheel mod should make the watch more expensive, but I think that the perspective of them “not being close” does deserve re-evaluation as the manufacturing gap between these two watches is more than likely well under $1000

Making the Baroncelli Moon phase chronograph and its color variations a better value proposition

🍺

I would not give the Mido a second glance. It’s just not my style. The Longines above is a killer though.

Fair enough some people are not going to responded to statement pieces, some folks like more conventional watch design

I personally find Mido to be a breath of fresh air in a market where so many watches are just derivatives of each other

If you think about it, it's pretty unbelievable to see so much feature overlap between two brands in different price segments owned by the same conglomerate 🍺

Have you seen the blue one? It might be easier to appreciate the overlap in that variation

What makes you think I don’t respond to statement pieces?

To be honest, I don’t consider this Mido a statement piece at all.

You are right. I have no idea what you like or don't like

I apologize if I came across as putting words in your mouth

The blue version is much better. It has some coherence to the design and colour selection. The silver rings and hour markers on the blue don’t fight with each other while the multi colour rings on the white version seem to be disparate elements in opposition to otherwise traditional silver hour markers. The subtle colour change of the blue moon sub dial draws your eye to the moon phase. The gold moon isn’t fighting for attention against a variety of other bright colours. The steps for the outer date and hour rings give the blue version depth without cluttering the dial.

The white version looks like they are throwing every option and bright colour on it to attract the Magpies. White dial with blue, grey, yellow, gold and silver? Why? Just pick one pallette. The steps for the outer dial rings for the date and hour markers make a dial that’s already busy with colour even busier. There’s only so many different design elements you need to include to have an attractive watch. You don’t need them all.

Just because it’s Marmite doesn’t make it a statement. Sometimes it’s just bad design. IMHO, of course.

Great review 👏! I personally like both colourways. The blue for the more traditional minded and the white dial for us looking for a bit more fun on the wrist.

I lean more toward the white dial version and I really like that Mido seems to suddenly been allowed to be more experimental. I like what they are doing and hope they continue. Mido has certainly become a lot more interesting recently.

I agree with you that I don't see why you should pay 1k more for the column wheel, just because it is more rare and complicated. If you can afford it and the column wheel has that additional value for you, sure go for it. I also would like an upped water resistance, mostly for ease of mind.

I think for the average customer the Mido has what they are looking for and costs way less. Which in my eyes makes it the better buy. Then again we also live in a world where there are people who will only buy salt from a certain brand name. So to each their own I guess...

Very cool! I'm so happy you liked the review!

“Mido has certainly become a lot more interesting recently.”

This right here 1000%! 👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼

I’m sure there is no real “sibling rivalry.”

But in an economic model where the conglomerates are working so hard to stack their brands so neatly in the economic pyramid, seeing this kind of cross-over and risk-taking is very admirable 😆

I like something in every Swatch brand, to be honest, but I find what Mido is doing from a design and value perspective to be the most interesting :D