Like many other brands with a long rich history in watchmaking, Longines has been tapping into its extensive archive to bring back winners as re-issued models with modern sensibilities. But Longines also looked to the future last year with its V.H.P. (very high precision) model that they claim is one of the most accurate quartz watch on the market today.
For 2018 the V.H.P movement is back again. Added to the sporty Conquest line but this time with various color dial and strap and bracelet combinations. Shown below are two targeted to U.S.-based customers and one more generic version.
In addition to the regular three-hand Conquest, new this year is a chronograph version. Same high precision and shock resistant movement but now with a chronograph.
To broaden the appeal of the Legend diver there is now a smaller version with various dial colors. One in mother of pearl should suit well a lady who loves to be active or is into the diver watch look.
However, the stand out piece from the 2018 Longines novelties collection is the legend diver black. Using the same case size (40 mm) as the already popular re-issued diver, with similar aged lumed, and perfectly blended in date window at 3 o'clock, but now with a PVD black treatment. Additionally, instead of a steel PVD milanese strap, Longines opted to provide a flexible black rubber band that mimics the steel mesh but is much more comfortable.
Longines has also offered to loan me the regular steel Legend Diver for more than a month so look for a detail review of that watch soon. Visit Longines web site for pricing and details on the other dial combinations and availability. longines.ch
One of the winners in the 2019 GPHG awards in the first week of November was a two year old upstart watch brand from Kuala Lumpur named MING Watches. The young brand won best watch in the Challenge category at the Geneva show to the delight of its founder and watch aficionados who have regularly helped sell out the brand’s 11 prior releases since its debut of the 17.01 watch.
MING watches are not limited per we but are produced in small batches of a few hundreds, which in effect make them limited. A quick perusal to their web site shows that all models, except for the two new 2019 models have sold out. Interestingly the new models are also priced much higher than the previous ones. However, before getting ahead of ourselves, how does one go about seeing or trying on a MING watch?