A love letter to the Longines Conquest V.H.P.

So the new Longines Conquest came out recently. I am probably a month late to the hype, but I feel that the outgoing Conquest needs a little bit of love right now.

One of my first experiences with watches was in a boutique where the Conquest was first introduced to me. The mechanical one was cool and all, but after a week, the V.H.P. bug had bitten me. I planned to save up for one before I inevitably spent the money on watchmaking tools. Many months later, I have some money saved up and I'm nearing what it takes to buy one used.

Is this the ultimate GADA watch? I think so. I think it's only downfalls are a somewhat large size and somewhat low water resistance. While the regular Conquest has an overkill of 30 bar, the V.H.P comes with 5. Another 5 would have been perfect. I'm not one to moan about water resistance, as most of my collection features vintage watches with no casebacks and gaskets that have turned to dust, but I know most people would be more comfortable with 10 bar. The sizes, 41mm and 43mm are rather big. There is the 36mm version as well, but Longines says that one's for the ladies.

The real cream here is the movement. No jewels, unless you get the chronograph, because who needs jewels these days? In all honesty, the movement is an incredible high-accuracy quartz that does some cool things with shock so that you can play golf with it, like a G-Shock, but not a G-Shock. It also goes to sleep if you don't use it, much like slaves, although those don't usually come in a Longines box from Switzerland. For everyday use, I don't care how many people want to crucify me, but a quartz module like this one is better for daily use compared to a mechanical. Yes, winding watches is intimate and fun, but sometimes, I just don't want to. Most days I love a good wind, even the old Seiko 7S26 shuffle gets me going, but on the odd day where I just want something stylish and functional, a V.H.P. does it and does it right. There are vintage models, which loof a little more ornate, although I loathe the cursive font that they used for V.H.P..

After writing this, I realised that most Casio Oceanus watches have these features plus solar on most models. While I love that one too, I still think the Longines was for me, maybe because a feeling of safety has been hardwired in me after the staff at the dealer were so polite.

So, Longines, when do we get the new V.H.P.? If you don't release it soon, I will be mildly annoyed for three minutes one day, but not so annoyed that it ruins my day, and then forget about it until I buy the old one (if that is the watch I decide on) or you release the new one and I realise I can't actually afford it.

The new Conquest really is a looker, isn't it?