Longines Launches A New Blue Dial Version Of Its Popular Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve
A revived design from 1959 in a contemporary execution.
The Longines Conquest family of watches was originally launched all the way back in 1954 and at that time it was one of the first examples in modern watchmaking, of an officially named collection, in the modern sense of the word. Conquest watches today are a major pillar of Longines’ overall production, and under that name you can find everything from classically styled no-date dress watches, to the very popular line of Hydroconquest diver’s watches. In 1959, Longines launched the Conquest Automatic Ref. 902B, which was a 35mm self-winding watch with an unusual power reserve display. The power reserve is shown on rotating disks at the center of the dial, in a major break with the usual solution of showing the power reserve via a hand moving across a sector, or arc, on the dial of the watch.
In 2024, for the 70th Anniversary of the debut of the Conquest line, Longines brought the complication back as the Conquest Heritage Power Reserve. The models are now slightly larger and thicker, at 38mm x 12.3mm, but the general design for the new models hews very closely to the general layout of the 1959 originals, including the dial layout, markers, and design of the hands.
The models launched in 2024 with anthracite, black, and champagne dials, and were very immediately evocative of the mid-century design era in which the ref. 9028 was developed, but the new model, with a light blue opaline dial, feels a bit more contemporary, especially on the optional stainless steel bracelet.
While the watch by the numbers seems slightly thick for a dress watch, I think in this execution it’s not especially noticeable as the design feels less like a dress watch per se – which, historically, were thin, precious metal watches with no complications (not even a date, and sometimes even without center or small seconds hands). The connection to the original is obvious, right down to the typefaces on the dial for “Conquest” and “automatic” and the presence of the date at 12:00, where it doubles (very convincingly) as the 12:00 marker.
Longines wisely stuck with the skyscraper style hands, as well as the general proportions of the hands with the rest of the dial, and of course, the symmetry of the central circular power reserve indicator as well.
An Unusual And Well Integrated Power Reserve Complication
The power reserve indicator consists of an inner disk with the actual indicator on it, and an outer ring showing the number of hours of power reserve. The original vintage model had a 45 hour power reserve, which was respectable for the time, but the new models, including the latest blue dial model, have a 72 hour power reserve. You’ll notice, by the way, that the largest actual number on the power reserve ring is 64; 72 hours is represented by the dot directly counter-clockwise from the numeral 64.
When you start winding the watch, the outer ring will begin to gradually rotate clockwise relative to the inner disk, with the thicker end of the indicator pointing to the power reserve. Once the indicator is pointing to the dot for 72 – and this is an interesting twist to the complication – the outer ring will continue to rotate if you keep turning the crown, but if you are at a full 72 hours, the inner disk will begin to turn clockwise along with it. This means that once you have fully wound the watch, you can put the tip of the indicator on the inner disk wherever you want it (I think lots of us would probably put it at the 12:00 position just for the sake of symmetry, but there are never not rugged, iconoclastic individualists who would probably rather have it elsewhere.)
The movement will probably be familiar to Longines fans in general and to folks who took notice of the models launched in 2024: it’s the Longines caliber L896.5. This is an 11 1/2 ligne (25.6mm) movement,4.85mm thick, with a silicon balance spring, running at the slightly unusual frequency of 25,200 vph/3.5Hz, which interestingly enough is the frequency at which Swatch Group sister brand Omega runs its co-axial escapement. (Most modern watches run at a slightly higher frequency of 28,800 vph/4Hz; one of the advantages of a slightly lower frequency is a longer power reserve).
Caliber L896.5 is based on the similar Longines caliber L888, which is also 25.6mm in diameter but thinner, at 3.85mm, than the power reserve-equipped L896.5. Presumably the additional millimeter of thickness is thanks to the addition of the power reserve works, and the two disks, which seems pretty efficient.
If you liked this implementation of the power reserve indication in the previous models but wondered if you might not like it even better in a slightly less vintage-adjacent version, your ship has come in. I like these a lot. It’s very unusual to see a brand do anything different from the hand-and-sector-up-down indicator found on most watches with a power reserve indication, and Longine’s made it something which is not just useful, but which materially contributes to the beauty of the design as well. At $4300 on a strap and $4400 on the substantial-looking fliplock two button bracelet, it’s also – as is so often the case with Longines – an excellent value proposition as well.
The Longines Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve, Blue Opalilne Dial: case, 38mm x 12.30mm, with box sapphire crystal with double AR coating; crown with winged hourglass logo (time flies!) and sapphire crystal caseback. Super-LumiNova on the hands and on indexes at the dial quarters. Movement, Longines caliber L896.5, based on the caliber L888; execution with central circular power reserve exclusive to Longines; 72 hour power reserve, running at 25,200 vph/3.5Hz, in 21 jewels. With strap, $4300; with bracelet, $4400 (which I think is the smallest bracelet-over-strap premium I’ve seen in a long time).
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