One other Sunday morning, one other showdown. Seize your scorching cup of espresso and prepare to vote! This week, it’s all about in style retro dive watches. One is the lately launched white-dial Longines Legend Diver. It was met with a lot reward from media and followers alike as a brighter different to the black- and blue-dial choices. Can it beat our different choose, the Oris Divers Date? The Divers Date debuted late final 12 months and in addition garnered reward upon its launch. Ever since then, nevertheless, it has been a bit quiet. This creates an ideal alternative to find out whether or not it may well beat the most recent Longines Legend Diver. It’s time to seek out out!
When the white Longines Legend Diver was unveiled a bit over every week in the past, followers agreed it was a pleasant and crisp new model of the model’s vintage-inspired diver. White dials are usually not the most typical amongst dive watches, so once we do see them, they normally stand out instantly. However it was not all reward for the most recent Legend Diver. As normal, some folks thought it was not definitely worth the worth. This sparked our thought to pit it towards one other lately launched retro diver with a light-weight dial. We determined to go for the Oris Divers Date with a beige dial. It creates a barely extra nuanced really feel to a light-dial diver. Plus, the Oris is available in at €2,450, whereas the Longines has a steeper worth of €3,800. A special dial coloration and vastly totally different worth tags are elements for a terrific Sunday Morning Showdown. Let’s get going.
Final week, on Sunday Morning Showdown…
However earlier than we do, let’s briefly look again ultimately week’s all-Omega battle. With 65% of the votes, the 38mm Aqua Terra had no hassle beating the lately launched Railmaster. The feedback made it very clear that the Aqua Terra was your favourite. Regardless of the €1,000 worth distinction, not many Fratelli would choose the brand new Railmaster. Let’s see how issues pan out with the Longines and Oris this week. It’s time for Mike and Jorg to make their instances.
Jorg: Oris Divers Date
Right now’s battle is about greater than only a price ticket or dial coloration. It is usually a battle of two distinctly totally different dive-watch types. The Longines represents the basic Tremendous Compressor-style dive watches, whereas the Oris takes the extra standard route that has turn out to be the usual for the style. Is that essential? As a common precept, it’s not, nevertheless it does create an on the spot choice for me. I like my dive watches to mix a clear dial with an exterior bezel reasonably than an inner one. That mentioned, I do just like the Longines Legend Diver fairly a bit. We have now additionally seen nice examples from Sherpa that present how good a Tremendous Compressor-style diver can look. General, although, I like commonplace dive watches higher as they present larger versatility.
In right this moment’s matchup, each watches sport vintage-inspired appears, so that they have a specific throwback appeal. However a few essential particulars make the Oris Divers Date an on the spot favourite for me. The primary is its well-chosen dial coloration. It’s no secret that if given a selection between black or white dials, I choose the previous 99 occasions out of 100.
Exceptions are few and much between. It should both be a watch that appears phenomenal with a white dial, or the white dial itself should have a visible sparkle that wins me over. A fantastic instance is the white opaline dial of the Tudor Black Bay Professional. In comparison with the matte black dial of the inaugural mannequin, the brand new dial gives one thing fully totally different. That white opaline dial has a visible brilliance that immediately offers it depth and class.
Icy-white dials depart me chilly
That’s the place it goes mistaken with the icy-white dial of the Longines Legend Diver. Its crispness leaves me chilly. It lacks soul and is way too sterile for me. On high of that, there’s something off with the proportions of the dial and rotatable interior bezel. The latter covers a big a part of the general dial house that needs to be “stuffed,” for lack of a greater phrase.
From a performance perspective, I perceive that the bezel takes up fairly a little bit of house as a result of one should have the ability to learn the remaining dive time as soon as underwater. However ought to that end result within the bezel’s numerals and markers being considerably greater than these on the dial? Whereas the basic design makes the hour numerals fatter, the big numerals on the bezel nonetheless combat them for consideration, so the hierarchy feels off.
The Oris Divers Date does a much better job when it comes to general steadiness, and I additionally choose the dial coloration. The model from Hölstein launched three dials for the Divers Date. The primary was commonplace black, whereas the second had a pleasant, saturated darkish blue tone. Final, there was the one I picked for this battle, the powdery beige dial. As you’ll be able to see, combining that coloration with crisp white lume on the fingers and indexes creates a mushy, lovely distinction. Moreover, the utilized hour markers every have a cultured bevel for some visible attraction. The mix of components makes for a layered look that I a lot choose over the flat white dial of the Longines Legend Diver.
Good updates for the Oris Divers Date
One other factor I like is the ceramic bezel insert with its white markings and numerals. This can be a welcome characteristic of the Divers Date trio that makes the watches a terrific step ahead in comparison with the Oris Divers Sixty-5. Some folks choose the aluminium inserts of these fashions, however I believe the ceramic bezel with the engraved markings and numerals appears nice.
Oris additionally properly up to date the case. It’s 1mm smaller than the 40mm Divers Sixty-5, however the general proportions of the case and the rivet bracelet make for a watch that wears like an absolute appeal. It’s additionally thinner and extra snug than the Longines Legend Diver.
The automated Sellita SW200-1
For the motion, Oris determined to stay to the Sellita SW200-1 with the attribute crimson Oris rotor for now. As most of you’ll know, it’s based mostly on the ETA 2824. The Longines caliber L888 is predicated on the extra premium ETA 2892, which is a plus. Nonetheless, the Legend Diver can be considerably costlier. As a subsequent step, Oris will certainly introduce the identical watch with its proprietary Caliber 400 in time, making it much more fascinating. That can bump up the Divers Date’s worth, however it should seemingly nonetheless price lower than the €3,800 Longines.
For now, the Sellita-powered Divers Date prices €2,450. The model selected this route to draw a big viewers to the Divers Date. Moreover, it’s price mentioning that the Divers Date, regardless of all of the updates, has not turn out to be costlier than the Divers Sixty-5. In a world the place watch manufacturers search for any excuse for a worth hike, that’s price a praise.
Contemplating all this, I’d choose the extra inexpensive Oris Divers Date over the Longines Legend Diver any day of the week. I believe it appears higher as a dive watch, has a extra enticing colorway, and introduces updates in comparison with its predecessor that make it some of the enticing dive watches on the €2.5K worth level. These components make the selection straightforward for me, however let me know why folks ought to vote for the Longines Legend Diver, Mike.
Mike: Longines Legend Diver
The truth that Longines continues to be including to the Legend Diver assortment says one thing in regards to the design’s longevity. I keep in mind when the unique reissue debuted in 2007 as a result of my father bought one. The watch got here with out a date perform and, a number of years later, disappeared in favor of a date model. Since then, the model has launched quite a few variants on the theme and added a 39mm case to the present 42mm choices. We’ve seen bronze, 18K variations, and a great deal of dial colours. Lastly, every week in the past, a white-dial model broke cowl.
Admittedly, I’m extra of a bog-standard, black-dial-dive-watch man, however I can see the attraction of a lighter model. When virtually everybody else is boring like me, why not go for one thing totally different? Plus, a white dial is vivid and fewer drab. Lastly, when utilized to a watch pretty much as good because the Legend Diver, it merely works.
A 39mm chrome steel case for all wrists
Fortunately, Longines selected so as to add a white dial to the 39mm Legend Diver. Along with making the watch extra wearable than the prolonged 42mm items, the colour ought to discover favor with men and women. In spite of everything, this Legend Diver has a cushty 47mm lug-to-lug and an inexpensive 12.7mm thickness, which is nice contemplating the heady 300m depth score.
The Legend Diver hits otherwise than a standard dive watch
The obvious distinction between the Legend Diver and the Oris Divers Date is the dive bezel. The Oris opts for a typical exterior score bezel, whereas the Longines makes use of a second crown to regulate an inner 60-minute timer (a screw-down crown adjusts the time). This type and the cross-hatched sample on every crown stem from the ’50s and ’60s EPSA Tremendous Compressor instances utilized by many manufacturers. The look permits the watch to carry out double responsibility as a device watch and as a barely extra elegant possibility. That is bolstered with the beads-of-rice bracelet.
A candy bracelet
Oris makes a terrific bracelet, nevertheless it has met its match with Longines. The Legend Diver is provided with a skinny, snug beads-of-rice bracelet. It has a four-position toolless micro-adjust, which is useful throughout temperature swings. It’s additionally a pleasant instance of a bigger model doing one thing proper on an all-important a part of a watch.
The automated L888 isn’t overly fancy, however because it’s based mostly on the venerable ETA 2892-A2, it’s greater than appropriate for a dive watch. It has a chronometer certification, a frequency of 25,200vph, and 72 hours of energy reserve. There’s nothing mistaken with the Sellita contained in the Oris, however I contemplate the L888 a substantial improve. Whether or not the watch and motion make this watch price 50% greater than the Oris goes to be as much as you!
And that’s the place we stand. It’s time to vote for the Longines Legend Diver or the Oris Divers Date. Each are vintage-inspired, snug, and well-made watches. In addition they compete within the near-luxury section, however there’s a sizeable worth distinction. Will you select to spend extra on the Longines, or does the Oris meet your necessities? Forged your vote, and tell us why you selected the best way you probably did.
