Longines Ultra-Chron Carbon
Modern or Retro-Futurist? Meet the Longines Ultra-Chron Carbon
What happens when a watchmaker so dedicated to traditionalism starts coloring outside the lines with carbon for the first time? Something very special.
By Mike Espindle
Executive Editor
In a general sense, Longines doesn’t hop onto watch industry bandwagons. Instead, the brand prefers evolving its model lines over time with additional functions and technology (with a particular focus on anti-magnetism) while making only modest changes to appearances so that its newer models retain a relationship with each line’s origins.
The HydroConquest dive watch, for example, is one of the brand’s more recent models, introduced in 2007, but most lines have origin stories far earlier than that.
So, while the use of lightweight, durable carbon (a first for Longines) certainly qualifies as a modern watch technique, on this latest addition to the Ultra-Chron line of dive watches (a line first introduced in an uncannily predictive design back in 1968), the material paints an almost “retro-futurist” picture.
I mean, the Ultra-Chron Carbon is even a part of the watchmaker’s Heritage line. Let’s take a look.
Past is Future
Picture an impossibly edgy (like, literally impossible since carbon fiber wasn’t used in watchmaking until the late 1980s) James Bond watch from the On Her Majesty’s Secret Service era, and you’ll begin to get the vibe. (Fun Fact: Longines owns its own part of the 007 legacy with Ralph Fiennes as spymaster “M” wearing a gold Longines Conquest Heritage in 2015’s Spectre.)
So, yes, while the four quadrants of dark carbon fiber on the cushion-shaped case peeking out from the recognizable fixed circular bezel (albeit in titanium on this new watch) of the new Ultra-Chron Carbon only reveal their cutting-edge, unique intricacies on close inspection, the reduction in weight (under 80 grams) for the 43mm timepiece is instantly apparent when you strap it on.
Who in 1968 could have guessed that this stealthy design approach of hiding in plain sight would foreshadow how the Longines of the future would integrate newer materials into its models without breaking the classic molds?
Modern Times
The use of the high-frequency (36,000 vph) L.836.6 automatic movement, which is chronometer-certified by Geneva’s independent TIMELAB organization, features a silicon balance spring and other anti-magnetic components. Lastly, a technical black fabric strap completes the latest modernization of the classic Ultra-Chron.
Otherwise, expect all the design and functional hallmarks you have come to expect from the dive watch: an anti-reflective sapphire crystal, 30 bar (just over 1,000 feet) of water resistance, a screwdown crown, lume-coated grey flat-end PVD hands, and an anthracite dial with simple bar indices for easy legibility at depth.
Lastly, a solid screwdown caseback is engraved with the Ultra-Chron’s wave-form logo to indicate the high-frequency movement. The caseback, framed by the case bottom’s carbon fiber patterns, is particularly striking in this new model.
Released in January, the Ultra-Chron Carbon retails for $4,900.
For more information, visit the Longines website.
(Photography by Watchonista)