Watch Reviews 4U - Longines Master Collection L2.733.4 Black Dial 40mm Column Wheel Chronograph review

Watch Reviews 4U presents a review of a used

Longines Master Collection L2.733.4 40mm Black Dial 

40mm Chronograph watch from Michael Jones Jewellers  of Northampton -

I highly recommend this seller for their superb customer service - see below

40mm Longines L2.733.4 compared with an 1832 Heritage collection Watch

I found this very nice used Longines L2.733.4 Column Wheel Chronograph on Ebay recently for around £1200. I had in the past seen a couple of these on sale in Japan in used condition. 

Personally, 40mm case sizes are about the smallest I tend to go for just out of personal choice and this L2 at 39mm seemed a compromise but I found that the longer length lugs as also featured on the 1832 Heritage, actually made this fit very well for me. On the wrist the slight 1mm difference wasn't an issue.

The Longines Column Wheel L2.733.4 Chronograph 

at Michael Jones Jewellers

The Longines Column Wheel 40mm Chronograph - an L2.749.4.52.0 version

The L2 Column Wheel Chronograph echoes the styling of the 1832 Heritage watches and is available in a similar version with a different model number and also a white dial version. 

The L2 is a 1950's inspired 'Moderne' styling exercise with a stark black or white dial option and silvered metal dial furniture that gives this watch a classy look that is not out of date.

It features blade hands and there is a lame strip on the main hands and at the 5 minute interval markers around the dial. Whilst the light from these is minimal, they do work and is a nice touch as many of their dress watches feature solid metal hands.

Whether worn for business or as a dress watch, this L2 model is just pure style. As a Bauhaus design ethos admirer, this watch just appeals to me - being smart, classy, uncomplicated and wearable. Whilst it is also very functional and thus suits the design brief perfectly.

The sapphire glass with anti-reflective coating really makes the dial look pin sharp without reflections. The clarity of the glass on Longines watches I find really helps define the dial clarity and sharpness to the eye.

A Longines L2.749 40mm case size watch in similar style

Most of us won't have the need for a chronograph on what looks like a dress watch, so you might just choose the ordinary 1832 to fill that dressy watch requirement, but the small 3 dial chronograph gets away with it by not being overlarge, or over thick in the case depth.

In fact in comparison to the 1832 non-chronograph model, it is similar in case thickness. 

Easy to operate side buttons for the Chronograph

The Crown has Longines logo and wording present

My 1832 was new and remains unworn - this L2 styled version had been pre-owned so I was not too worried about wearing it. The case is slightly different to the 1832 Heritage in the bezel shape and the lugs are straight and long unlike the other L2.749 variation shown here, which has a slightly differently styled lug set.

Both long lug versions on the L2.733 and the 1832 Heritage although not appealing to all due to the gap between strap and case body, actually works well. The longer lug length puts the strap slightly further outboard and I find this means on a smaller 40mm size watch that the strap tends to drop away vertically from the spring bar, rather than allowing the strap to curve around the wrist, for hot weather perhaps an advantage. This also helps to make the watch look larger.

The date set push button

As you would expect from Longines, the case is superbly finished in polished 316L Stainless Steel. As with many of the Longines canon, it features an exhibition back allowing you to see the superbly finished movement through the crystal window. 

20mm strap with simple buckle closure in the Heritage style

The strap is an unfussy 'old school' strap and buckle style, again much in the style of the 1950's originals, tending to be less expensive than the Master Collection deployment type. The strap is a comfortable 20mm width and worn all day I found the watch was comfortable to wear and easy to read.

The exhibition back shows the movement off superbly 

on these column wheel chronographs - the blued column wheel

ratchet wheel mechanism is shown at the top of the image here

A white dial version I saw on sale with Ramsdens Financial at £1499.

I went for the black dial one as it ideally partnered my 1832 Heritage in black.

Ramsdens listing of their L2.733.4 Longines -

Check out their used watches pages as there are some good deals there

This example features a deployment type strap which some prefer.

Comparison of 40mm Heritage collection Conquest, Chronograph and 1832 Heritage

So what do we have in the L2.733.4? A nice and easy to wear watch, stylish, attractive timepiece that is not heavy on the wrist. Mine being a used example was in a very clean condition and pretty much like new. It is supplied with the nice wooden Longines box, booklet, pointer for date changing and an outer white Longines card box.

Essentially a £2k as new priced watch and on sale at around £1200. A good buy in my opinion, fairly priced and in great condition. Purchased from Michael Jones jewellers in Northamptonshire and thanks to Gareth who offered a superb customer service experience and was extremely helpful with the purchasing process and communication. So I would highly recommend them based on my purchase.

Watch Reviews 4U - The Longines Grande Vitesse Chronograph 42mm L3.636.4

                                           

The Longines Grande Vitesse Chronograph L3.636.4 42mm size

The Chronograph Sub Dials are much in the style of car instrument gauges

The choice of Chronograph watches from Longines is sizeable, given that the majority of watches that Longines sells are mainly the simpler style day and date watches and the proportion of watches sold in terms of Chronographs are far less by comparison. 

A leather strap version of the Grande Vitesse is also available -

although this strap shown is an aftermarket and not a genuine Longines strap

The Minutes sub dial has a jump minutes movement

The Longines Grande Vitesse range of Chronographs is set to appeal to the motoring enthusiast, on this 42mm version the main chrono seconds hand is a red stick type hand, on the 44m version it has an arrow end.  (Bremont make a Jaguar car dashboard styled chrono.)

The Grande Vitesse sub dials are as above, left - watch seconds - normal running, top - minutes and bottom - hours, the main red hand being the chronograph seconds. On the dial, the winged Longines logo sits alongside the date window with a contrasting white back with black numbers display, the whole dial design is nicely thought out and balanced. 

Unlike most other Longines watches it does not have 'Swiss made' wording on the dial at the 6 o'clock position. 

                                                

                                            Large easy to activate stop/start and reset buttons

           frame a larger Longines logo Crown with cross hatch pattern winding surface

The chronograph is the usual flyback design you will find on most Longines chrono models. The buttons are quite stiff to operate but that is often the way with chronographs unless they use quartz mechanisms. It also incorporates a Jump Minutes on the sub dial, the marker moves from one minute to the next by a sharp movement, not a smooth sweep. This is a bit like the movement style of chronometric rev counters on some classic cars, a bit staccato in motion, unlike an electric actuated gauge mechanism.

The Grand Vitesse case is nicely finished with the crystal domed at the bezel edge - the crystal has non-reflective coating giving the watch a nice finish without annoying refracted light making it hard to read in sunlight, the dial is clearly visible and pin sharp, without the reflections you tend to find on ordinary untreated watch crystals. 

Looking at some Tissot watches recently (from the same Swatch stable as Longines), the lack of anti-reflective coating on the Tissot did tend to spoil them, when the lack of glare is something you find on a modern Longines pretty much as standard. The coating does make the watch dial look more striking almost like looking at the dial without a glass on!

The Grande Vitesse packs a lot of punch for the money, formerly retailing new at around the £2000GBP Sterling mark, they were available in 42 and 42mm case sizes.

This used 42mm Grande Vitesse example with metal strap was £600 on EBay and although I don't go for modern modern sport type watches generally, this had enough Bauhaus style to appeal to me and of course as a car enthusiast too it appealed.

The Grande Vitesse gives you a lot of watch for your money, so what are the first impressions? Visually, the Vitesse shares some similarities with other brand sporting Chronograph offerings from similarly pegged big names such as Omega. 

Such similar designs often look visually similar in style with only the brand name to show the difference, the design consensus on these watches has distilled down over the years so that the products tend to have a similarity of design to each other, which is true on many other watch styles too.

The Exhibition back gives you a nice full view

of the superbly finished ETA movement

The Winding Crown is reminiscent of a Bugatti radiator cap - 

giving the watch a strong motoring related design influence

The 42mm Grande Vitesse stainless steel case is bulky but not over large, the 44mm version would be slightly heavier given the extra materials. The metal strap adds weight, there is also a leather strap version, but the watch despite that with the metal strap is not for me 'over heavy.' 

Wearing it all day it remained comfortable, but you did know you were wearing it and it might be too heavy for some, a Heritage dress type watch is by comparison hardly noticeable on the wrist, at almost half the depth and around a third of the weight! I did not find the Grande Vitesse over heavy or uncomfortable.

The watch depth is around 11mm as this has to fit in the chronograph mechanism.

The stainless steel strap is easily adjusted - 

a small watchmaker's pin vice can push out the link pins to make alterations

The strap is a beautifully engineered piece of work with a cantilever mechanism, to which both end caps one with the logo and the other with the Longines name on, snap down and meet at. 

To undo the strap, lift a cap and then the other cap to fully extend the bracelet, it is a simple, tidy and slick piece of design. It also saves the watch being lost if one cap only is opened.

The quality of finish is very evident here -

as is the textured grip on the crown seen here

I had purchased a 22mm leather strap to go on this watch in case the metal strap made it too heavy but I found that the watch was not too heavy, so I stuck with the original strap. Included links were with the watch, which I reapplied to the strap and it is now a perfect fit for my wrist. Spare links should be still available from Longines.

The cantilever bracelet closure used on 42 and 44mm versions 

The dial is available as a dark chocolate brown and also a silver dial with black sub dials is also available. The dial has simple stick hands and markers making it easy to read. An outer bezel gives a speed scale for those who would use it for sport timing.

The dark brown 44mm dial also works nicely

The Grande Vitesse is a lot of watch for the money, it is not light in weight, but it is stylish and eye catching. With an accurate ETA movement which seems the benchmark from Longines, it is something that will give good performance and the visual aspect also generates interest.

Just how many people who use the chronograph functions is open to debate, many like the dial of a watch showing lots of functionality and this does not disappoint. 

At 42mm I think this is large enough for me, although I do have a 47mm Longines, they are really just about as large as you would need. My usual watch size of 40mm to 42mm I find sits well on the wrist and at this size are large enough to be able to read the dial easily but not too large.

Watch Reviews 4U - The Write Time - the Longines Rollerball Pen

                                           

The Longines Rollerball Pen

You've got the watch so why not have the accompanying pen? I came across this nice Longines accessory on Ebay a while ago.

So, what is it like? Well, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it is to use, it isn't just an exercise in extending the Longines portfolio, in fact like their watches, the rollerball pen is rather nicely understated.

I have a couple of nice Parker brand rollerball pens of a similar design which are slightly larger in size and a touch heavier in weight, I have used the Parker ones for compiling notes for book projects and they are very nice to use.

The Longines 1832 Heritage Collection in Black -

style and simplicity working to provide you with a classic look -

the design of the Pen echoes the Rollerball

The Longines Rollerball is quite minimalist, in the Bauhaus style, a style I like and something which the 1832 collection watches evokes too. The stark black accented by the chromed fittings really works nicely - on both the pen and the watch.

The Rollerball has a winged logo badge engraved on the pen cap end and the Longines name around the banding on the pen cap.

The pen uses conveniently available and inexpensive Schmidt 888 Rollerball Refills, this is a great selling point as you are not tied to an expensive and exclusive high cost refill only produced for a limited or one model of pen. The Schmidt 888 refills I found on Amazon are very reasonably priced.

Writing with the pen is easy and enjoyable, I found it a nicely appointed pen that was easy to use, not too heavy, not too large and coupled to the easily available refills at a great price, it is a win-win.

The Pen is contained in a leatherette cover and this is inside a draw string soft cloth pouch with the Longines name and Logo on.

I have seen new Rollerball pens for around 100 Euros, I managed to find some quite reasonably priced on Ebay.

Get one if you see one!