Review: Longines Conquest Automatic 41mm Black (L3.677.4.58.6)

Ok, let's directly dive in with my feelings in general first. It is both a love and a hate story. I've never felt somewhere between for this watch at all. Sometimes I hate it. But like at the first sight i did, sometimes i love it very deeply. The hate stories are mainly related with its size and bulkiness. Which was my fault while making the decision between 39 and 41 i believe. But the love stories are related with the quality of it and also the variety of the areas i can use this watch.

Disclaimer: If you're expecting a technical review, you can just take a look to the artistic photos as long as you like 😂 and close the window. Besides the joke, since I'm a UI developer and a UX designer for the last 15 years, my reviews will only be related with the UI and the UX of the watches i'm gonna review 😉

## DIAL

Let's start with the dial first. As you may know, there are several Musou black paint dials out there. Lots of companies started to use that kind of painting or materials including very high horology brands like H.Moser&Cie or more affordable brands like Venezianico. Even though this is not Musou black paint dial, it is very deep and not reflective to make that black even deeper. And by using big but well proportioned hour markers together with arabic numerals on 12 and 6 o'clock, Longines did a great job here to avoid making the watch boring even after several months of use. (We all know, tell it to yourself too, you're getting bored from your watches after a few months and start to look around for alternatives! 😄).

Another key thing i love about the dial of this watch is the border wall, which is again in black and it holds the minute markers very nicely. This gives a very nice depth to the dial without making it unnecessarily busy.

Even though most of the watch lovers don't like date windows at 3 o'clock position -which i really don't care at all- I find this one is not disturbing for most of those 6 o'clock lovers. It is well sized and the white color of it gives a nice contrast and movement to the dial.

The design of the hands are also very nicely thought by Longines. They behave exactly the opposite way with the black dial plate. They shine... They really shine very bright and clear! Very nice polishing Longines! Bravo! Also, the sizing of the hands especially the seconds hand can absolutely be the signature of a great watch hand design for me.

## LUME

So the next thing we should talk about the dial could be the lume. However it is almost nonexistent. Yeah, hands and the indices have some which are in green (i believe) and maybe last 10-15 mins up most and act like a ghost. So one of the worst lume applications i've ever seen. However, it is still better than not having anything at all. Like on the other dial color versions. What a nonse decision Longines! Did you forget to add some lume during the production for the other color variants?

## CASE

Ok, some of you might disagree with me, but i love the case shape of this watch. It has all the nice curves, nothing annoying for your wrist. Every single corner or edge is nicely shaped and cutted. The case itself is very comfortable. I love shiny bezels and how they play with the brushed surfaces. But also i like to see the sides of the watch shine well which is very well observable on this watch.

But there are three things we can call as the downsides of the case. One of them is the crown guards. Some of you might find them a bit on the big side but i'm disagree with it since this watch is definitely a sportier one with 300 freaking meters of water resistance and a sporty looking dial. So i would prefer a little smaller crown guards but i'm also ok with it as is. These crown guards let you feel the sporty feel of the watch all the time together with the screw-in crown. The second one is its weight. Oh boy this guy is heavy! Truly heavy. Even without the bracelet, it is still heavy. And the last one is the thickness. It is listed as 11.5mm which might not sound too much. But it feels much thicker than that. I believe that the reason of it sits behind the back of the case. It is not a sea-through back which is ok since there is nothing so special to see about the movement. But the cover they used is too bold and bulky. Which makes the watch feel even thicker than it is. Buy maybe it was necessary to make it 300M WR.

## BRACELET (GRR!!)

Ok, the bracelet. If we would like to call it that way. I don't know where should I start to complain about it. But let me tell a few good things about it first. Quality of it is ok, actually better than ok. Also the balance between the shiny and the brushed parts are very nice. That's all. So let's dig it now!

Besides it is a damn 21mm bracelet, it is also a damn scratch magnet! Small dusts can also scratch it easily while you're cleaning it with a soft cloth. Another thing i really find annoying is the butterfly clasp. And this bracelet is the best example for the worst application of it! It is also very heavy, since the watch is already heavy, the bracelet doubles it. And we also don't have micro adjustments at all. Longines give you short and long end links to chose between but it still doesn't give you the comfort to properly adjust your bracelet's size. And finally, the worst thing, my biggest pain point: Why the hell that it is not tapered! While being a big, sporty and a bold watch, it could still easily be a comfortable and also a gentle/classy looking one. This is one of the worst bracelets i've ever used to be fair. But at some point, it is still essential to use the original bracelet. Because strait end bracelets will really look weird on this watch because of the lug curves, trust me i tried a lot. I'm sure that Longines is agree with my opinion on the bracelet because they've made one of the best bracelets they ever made for the Conquest 2023 model. Even though it is still 21mm.

The bracelet is the only one thing as a whole which makes this watch maybe not the best option you can buy for its price.

## MOVEMENT

Even though it is not a technical review, we'll still talk about the movement. But in a very different way. While UX is the overall experience a user gets from a product, UI is the combination of all elements which can be sensed by the user. And sound and physical feedbacks are part of it.

Let start with its sounds. To be fair it sounds quality from every single aspect. Handwinding it is a joy for every single turn of the crown, self-winding rotor is absolutely silent and doesn't disturb you at any point. And when you keep the watch very close to your ears, you can hear the smurfs singing very nicely and quitely their tick-tock song. Absolutely feels very premium.

Another thing i've said is the physical feedback. And strating from unscrewing the crown, winding it and screwing it back, moving the crown to the adjustment positions for the date and the clock settings are all giving you an awesome feedback which makes you feel it is an output of a very high quality production line.

And lastly, mine is +4 secs a day. Which is almost a chronometer for me. Since i'm not wearing any of my watches more than 3 consequtive days 😄

## VERDICT

If you don't count the bracelet as a consideration factor, for the price of it, you're getting absolutely the best watch you can buy. Don't get me wrong, CW Twelve, Seiko sth., Tissot sth. etc. might look more appealing at some point but nothing will offer more than this to you in any aspect. We're talking about a watch which has a 300m WR with all its shine.

The bracelet and the overall bulkiness feeling i have might be my fault btw. Actually it is i believe. I wanted something sportier and bold for my black dial in the collection. And decided to go with the 41mm. But i'm asking myself why i didn't go with the 39 since my best fit range is between 38-40. And because of that i thought selling it so many times. However i'm still keeping it. Maybe, if i went with the 39, i would never consider selling it someday.

Unfortunately, because of the bracelet, this is a watch which looks much better when it is not on your wrist. But luckily, it still looks brilliant on the wrist too.