Review: The Longines Legend Diver - A modern day legend

In 2014, when I got a promotion from work, I wanted to celebrate this special occasion with my first luxury watch.  I did not want to spend Rolex or Omega money, so started looking at what could be had for about half or a third of the price of an Omega or Rolex at the time (certainly this doesn't hold true anymore with the current prices of Rolexes!).

The idea was to get "The One" watch that could do it all - sporty but also dressy, accurate, and also practical.  I looked at many watches, and I was mulling them over.  None of the ones I looked at however had that instant "love at first sight" feeling though. Perchance, I saw one of these Legend Divers in the window at a local dealer and was instantly gobsmacked with the utter beauty.  Luckily, the watch also fit perfectly on my wrist for my wrist size.  It was fairly light and very comfortable.  I could see it would work with many different straps.  So in a sense, it was really the perfect "One Watch".

Our love relationship grew with time, as for many years this was the One Watch that I wore - in fact for a full period of 5 years we were inseparable.  To this day, it's also still the watch that spends the most time on my wrist because of its versatility.  It's only later when the Black Bay 58 came out that I found a watch as versatile as the Legend Diver - as such these two are probably in my rotation the most.

Later, when my interest in watches grew, I realised this was modeled after a historical dive watch from Longines of the 60's, however, this was a little bit lost on me since I don't really buy watches due to their historic significance, only based on whether I like them or not...

For those that are into details, herewith some of the specs:

Size:

42mm (but really wears smaller)

Lug width:

22 mm

Crystal:

Sapphire

Depth rating:

30 bar (yes - you can actually dive with this "diver")

Movement: 

L888 - Self-winding mechanical movement beating at 25 200 vibrations per hour, with a power reserve of approximately 72 hours

Complications:

Date only

Lume:

Super-LumiNova

So what is it that attracted me to this fine piece and made me keep it since 2014?  Well, it's been very accurate since day 1.  I don't measure the accuracy with a time-grapher or by looking at how many seconds it's gained over a set period, it's just accurate enough for me to not worry about it.  Since the watch gets rotated once a week or so and then needs to be wound and set again once I get back to it, it's certainly accurate enough for the week that it is on my wrist not to worry about it.

Secondly (but probably this should be first!), the looks.  It's so unique, and it's the watch that starts the most conversations with strangers from all of my watches and gets complimented the most (not that I care - all I really care about is that I like it personally!).

Thirdly, it's versatility - you can literally throw any strap on it.  Sometimes it gets a leather strap and I wear it with a suit, sometimes it's on a NATO or rubber band at gets worn with shorts to the beach.  

Fourthly, it's genuinely fun to play with - the internal bezel, with its own screw-down crown, is such a joy to operate.

If I had to sell all of my watches, this would be the one that I hide under the bed and keep...