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.
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