If a brand names one of its products "Legend," you'd better hope said product can back up that lofty moniker. And for the past 16 years, that has been the case for the Longines Legend Diver. Debuting in 2007 as a modernized version of the super compressor dive watches the brand produced from the late 1950s through the early '70s, the Legend Diver has arguably been Longines' flagship offering for the past decade and a half.
But as beloved as the vintage-style diver was, the Legend Diver still had its foibles. Enthusiasts complained about the lack of a true bracelet option, the too-large (42mm) and too-small (36mm) case sizes, the practically non-existent lume and the near-impossibility of tracking down a rare no-date reference. Well, today Longines has launched a brand-new generation of the Legend Diver that — at least on paper — would appear to address everyone's issues with the prior version. But how does the new Longines Legend Diver translate in the metal? I spent a week wearing it to find out.
Longines Legend Diver: What We Think
Longines has clearly been listening to its customers. The completely revamped Legend Diver has a more versatile case size at 39mm, far better lume, a COSC-certified movement, a more modern design and a true stainless steel bracelet option for the first time — fitted end links and safety clasp included. The dial even eschews the date, something fans of the watch have been clamoring for.
Overall, I love the new Legend Diver and think it will be a massive hit for Longines — I don't see the Legend losing its status as Longines' de facto flagship anytime soon. However, I do miss the fauxtina and mesh bracelet of the older version, as they helped give it a retro-cool je ne sais quoi that the fancier new rendition doesn't quite capture. Despite that, I think it's still the best retro dive watch on the market for the money.
To learn more about our testing methodology and how we evaluate products, head here.
- Case Size: 39mm
- Water Resistance: 300m
- Movement: Longines L888.6 automatic chronometer
The 39mm case size is pretty much perfect
Perhaps the most frequent complaint people have had about the Longines Legend Diver since its debut has been about the size of the watch. It debuted with a 42mm case, which isn't massive for a diver — Omega's Seamaster Diver 300M is currently only available in 42mm, much to my chagrin — but because of the exceedingly loooong lugs that are present on so many of Longines' watches (cough, Spirit line, cough), the watch wore larger than its specs would indicate. For someone like me, with a 6.25-inch wrist, it was basically unwearable. Longines debuted a smaller 36mm version of the watch in 2018, but many found these to be too small, and they were also rare on the market and generally marketed toward women with more jewelry-like references.
The new Legend Diver comes in just one size: 39mm, which seems to be the mythical "sweet spot" for just about everyone's wrist. And I will admit, the watch wears like a dream. The lugs are still long, of course, and I wouldn't mind seeing them shaved down a tad if I'm being honest, but overall, the 39mm case size just works. It doesn't take up a ton of room on the wrist, yet it still has plenty of presence, thanks in large part to the internal rotating that's color-matched to the dial, making the dial appear larger. Any bigger, and the watch would feel overpowering. Any smaller, and that heavily hash-marked dial is going to look a little crowded. Longines really nailed the sizing here, and I think a lot of people are going to be very happy.
The lume is a massive improvement
One of the chief requirements of a dive watch, in addition to high water resistance and probably a timing bezel, is that it needs to have excellent lume so a diver can clearly read the time in the sea's murky depths. But if you've ever seen the lume on a Longines Legend Diver, then you know it's an absolute joke. Despite the abundance of markings on the dial, the watch only featured lume on the tiniest of hash marks for each index, the triangle for the bezel, the minute hand and the tip of the hour hand. It was basically illegible at night and was long considered one of the watch's glaring weak spots.
But I am happy to report that those issues are a thing of the best because the new Longines Legend Diver is lit. Again, the brand has clearly been listening to its fans (and critics), as Longines has doused the dial with a far greater amount of Super-LumiNova. The handset is the same general design but is brand-new, with a wider minute hand, a fully lumed shovel hour hand and a lumed arrow tip now present on the seconds hand. The Arabic numeral markers on the dial are now lumed for the first time, and the other indices are also more brightly lit. During my testing, I once woke up in the middle of the night to see the watch on my nightstand, where it was glowing brightly enough that I could easily read the time. A lume treatment on a watch may seem like a small thing, but in this case, it greatly increased my enjoyment of the watch. (I still like to see that bezel fully lumed, but you can't win 'em all.)
Date window? We don't need no stinkin' date window
Longines has made a no-date version of the Legend Diver before, but only for a limited time. They're highly sought-after and difficult to track down, and can sell for around twice as much as versions with the date. (The 36mm version was never offered in a no-date variant.) So given the market's clear preference for it, it would make sense for Longines to offer a no-date version of the new Legend Diver. And that's exactly what the brand did. In fact, you can only get a no-date version — there is no reference with a date offered this time around, at least to start. Naturally, I love the look of the no-date dial and am very happy Longines made this decision. The dial is much more balanced and attractive without the date, and it's truer to the design of the 1959 original.
The new bracelet is nice ... but ...
Okay, onto the fourth nitpick that seemingly everybody had about the Legend Diver: There was no traditional bracelet option. Virtually every competitor in the luxury dive watch market, or even sub-luxury, has an available stainless steel bracelet option with fitted end links. The Legend Diver, however, did not. Since its 2007 debut, its bracelet option has always been a stainless steel mesh bracelet with straight ends. But not anymore.
The new Legend Diver has jettisoned the retro mesh in favor of a stainless steel beads of rice (BOR) bracelet. While still considered a retro style, the BOR is more typical of what you'll find on other modern divers with its fitted end links and dual push-button clasp. It features a nice taper and feels silky on the wrist, and it's supremely comfortable. There's no quick-adjust feature on the clasp, but there are plenty of micro-adjustment holes that make it easy to dial in the perfect fit. The bracelet is also nicely finished, especially when it comes to the high polish treatment applied to the inner "beads of rice." Each one acts as its one little mirror, which can be quite hypnotic while admiring the watch.
I like the bracelet, I do. And yet ... I miss the mesh. I feel like it fit the overall vintage aesthetic of the watch better and helped make the Legend Diver stand out more in the crowded dive watch marketplace. The new bracelet is very nice, it just doesn't feel as unique to Longines or the Legend Diver. Hopefully, Longines will offer the mesh bracelet as an option down the line. Currently, the new Legend Diver is available only on the BOR bracelet, a leather strap or a NATO.
It feels more modern and luxurious than before
Longines has been upping its game in recent years, stepping up the quality of its movements and its finishing in what appears to be a bid to take on Tudor, just as Swatch Group sibling Omega has gone upmarket to better take on its longtime rival — and Tudor's big brother — Rolex. And the new higher-end Longines DNA is definitely present in the new Legend Diver. The watch feels more luxurious and modern than before, and it's not just because of the bracelet. The dial has been modernized and streamlined. Gone is the vintage "fauxtina" lume of the previous generation, as it's been replaced by stark white printing on both the black and blue dial variants (the only two colors at launch). The dial has also been tweaked to look a little less eccentric, with the minute markers being shortened ever so slightly.
The movement is now COSC-certified, which wasn't the case before, and it's fantastic. During my testing, the watch kept time well within chronometer specs, to the point where I didn't even have to think about how accurate it was because it was always accurate. The movement winds buttery smooth from the screw-down four o'clock crown, and the screw-down crown at two o'clock for adjusting the timing bezel was also surprisingly easy to use — even while the watch was on my wrist (though I still prefer an external bezel, which will always be more convenient). The watch is also now a certified diver's watch, meeting ISO 6425 certification and surpassing ISO 764 benchmarks for magnetic resistance tenfold. It's a highly capable and polished modern luxury dive watch and is still one of the best bargains on the market.
But I can't help but feel the Legend Diver has lost a bit of its swagger with this new generation. Some of the changes are great — the 39mm size, the improved lume, the no-date layout, the COSC movement — but others, like the lack of fauxtina and the abandoned mesh bracelet — take away some of the spirit of the watch, in my opinion, and make it a bit more run of the mill. It's technically a better watch than before, but style-wise, it's lost some of its swagger.
Longines Legend Diver: Alternatives
Longines is far from the only brand to resurrect a super compressor-style dive watch this century. There are lower-tier heritage brands that have reissued their own mid-century divers that, like Longines, used EPSA super compressor cases in the 1960s, notably the Alpina Seastrong Diver Heritage (42mm, $1,795) and the Benrus Ultra-Deep (36.5mm, $1,095). A more modern yet still affordable take would be the Christopher Ward C64 Super Compressor (41mm, $1,375), which uses a functioning super compressor case that actually increases its water resistance as pressure increases, something that's practically unheard of today. For a budget option, the Dan Henry 1970 Automatic Diver (40mm, $290) brings similar aesthetics for around 300 bucks, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the gorgeous JLC Polaris (42mm, $10,000+) starting at ten grand.
But the most direct competitor for the Longines Legend Diver comes from Tudor. While not a super compressor-style diver, the Black Bay Fifty-Eight (39mm, $4,000) is still a retro-inspired, COSC-certified, 39mm dive watch. You can't go wrong with either, but the Tudor is about 800 dollars more on the bracelet.
