Longines Admiral Chronograph

Official Timer of the French Open. Longines has been the Official Timer of the French Open Tennis Championships since 2007. Given that the French Open is now underway, we thought we would look at one of their newer offerings.

Longines Admiral Chronograph. The Longines Admiral Chronograph is a conventional chronograph with some interesting features. The watch is a mechanical chronograph watch, beign powered by L705 movement. It beats at a smooth 28,800 vibrations per hour and has a 48 hour power reserve.

The watch has a nicely laid out dial. The main seconds hand is used for chronograph function anf continoues seconds are displayed in the sub-dial at the nine o'clock and there is a 30 minute timer at the sub-dial in the 3 o'clock used in conjunction with the chronograph function. Date is displayed at a window at the six o'clock position.

The buttons on the right side of the case are the usual Start/Stop and Reset buttons. Interestingly though, unlike other automatic chronographs which reset the main seconds hand and timers in the subdials by sending back to the 12 o'clock position with a sharp counter clockwise movement, the Longines resets the hands with a smooth clockwise movement.

A button at the 9 o'clock is used in manipulating the date, rather than the by using the crown. This allows for the date to be easily set by the simply push of a button without the need of manuipulating the crown. This is a nice innovation, which probably was made because this watch also comes in a GMT version.

Case and options. The Longine Admiral comes in stainless steel only, but does come with a choice of silver, black or brown dials (a new trend these days) and either a stainless steel strap of leather bracelet. The case is 42mm in diameter and has a water resistance of 100 meters.

About Longines. Longines is a luxury watch company founded by Ernest Francillon at Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Its origins can be traced back to 1832 and it currently holds the oldest registered logo for a watch company (a winged hourglass). Longines is currently owned by the Swatch Group.