This week, Hodinkee debuted a sleek new GMT watch in collaboration with Longines.
The Longines Spirit Zulu Time x Hodinkee Limited Edition comes in a nicely sized 39 mm x 13.5 mm, lightweight grade 5 titanium case with a matching bracelet. With these dimensions, including a lug-to-lug of just 46.7 mm, and a reasonably sized crown — the proportions should appeal to a broad range of consumers.
Longines has been criticized for how thick their watches are, and often omits that measurement in communications, in a purported effort to conceal a key dimension that smart consumers always consider before buying. This is not limited to just Longines, in fact, as a rule of thumb, if a company does not list the thickness of their watch in online communications, there’s a good chance it’s because the case is quite thick.
Hodinkee has done an excellent job in taking an almost great design and making it much better, by simply finessing the case dimensions and removing the rather mundane five-star motif on the dial, as well as the Longines winged emblem. They also created a faded (washed) dial which meshes well with the gray-hued titanium case and bracelet.
The GMT function for this timepiece is what Hodinkee has coined as a “flyer” GMT meaning that the jump set hour function can be adjusted by pulling out the crown and moving the main hour hand forward or backward (without disrupting the timekeeping). Crossing midnight adjusts the date in either direction. The yellow 24-hour hand then can be set the standard way you set a watch, and is typically used for home time (though you can set it to whatever second-time zone you want), and it can also be used in conjunction with the bezel to track a third-time zone. (If the 24-hour hand jumps, not the main hand, that’s considered a “caller” GMT.)
Functionally, the dial — which includes a color-matched date wheel, Arabic numerals, long pencil hands, and no 5-star motif of the winged emblem — is easy to read and has hours, minutes, center seconds, date, and GMT displays. The Zulu Time watch has a 24-hour bi-directional bezel, a slightly domed sapphire crystal, a solid 6-screw caseback, a screw-down crown, and is depth-rated to 100 meters of water resistance.
At nearly four thousand dollars, you’re in Tudor’s territory which offers an in-house caliber (not an ETA) and that’s where Longines would do well to consider some adjustments in the future if they want to amplify sales. This watch is a good start in the right direction, and the automatic Swiss-made ETA with 72-hour power reserve will be reliable and easy to service, though not as horologically significant or appealing as a manufacture movement.
The Longines Spririt Zulu Time x Hodinkee Limited Edition (Ref. L38021596) is available as a 500-piece numbered edition and retails for $3,800.
Photos by Hodinkee.
