Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Baselworld 2012 : Longines 180th anniversary 'red 12' monopusher



As part of Longines’ commemorative models for its 180th anniversary, they have gone all ‘heritage’. One of these anniversary watches is the “Column-Wheel Single Push-Piece Chronograph”, perhaps more simply known as a monopusher chronograph. Based on the early wire-lugged watches, and appropriately in rose gold, this watch will be limited to 180 pieces.

Replicating a classic look of the old officers watches with a white dial, black Arabic numbers, a red ‘12’ and blued steel hands, but with a date aperture as well, this almost old-fashioned watch will not appeal to everyone, but particularly for those who have a soft spot for the old red 12s, it’s an unexpected and attractive model from Longines. I would have been happy to have had a date-free version, and perhaps, especially given that it is a special model for the brand, an enamel dial might have been worth considering. The 'blue' of the hands is a bit difficult to nail down exactly, the tones seem to be slightly different in each of these photos.



TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Reference number : L2.774.8.23.x
Functions : hours, minutes, seconds, date
Movement : Automatic Cal. L788.2 (ETA A08.261) with single push-piece and column-wheel chronograph mechanism. 13¼ lines
Jewels : 27
VPH : 28,800
Power reserve: 54 hours
Case : rose gold, 40 mm. Single push-piece integrated into the crown. Transparent sapphire case back
Dial White, black Arabic numerals and a red “12”
Water resistance : 3 bar (30m)
Strap: brown alligator


Amongst the ‘Tarts’ there are two members who own a number of vintage red 12s. It’s a thumbs up from them, though an enamel dial would have been even better and, as one person has suggested, perhaps if the finishing of the hands was a little less flat, it would have given the watch a bit more depth.



[AP]

1 comment:

initialjh said...

very nice... except I don't like the date window!