Longines has started rolling out its new releases for 2021, and as in many years prior, much of the brand’s focus is on expanding its vintage-inspired Heritage Collection. Last week, we looked at Longines’s latest take on 1930s-inspired Avigation BigEye, with a titanium case and smoked blue dial; now, we turn to one of the manufacturer’s more conservative designs of the new year, dubbed the Silver Arrow.
The new watch is a classically simple, time-only watch that takes its inspiration from a 1950s original (example pictured below, via VintageWatchShop.com). The modern watch is rooted in the postwar style that informed so many other timepieces of that era.
Like its vintage forebear, the Silver Arrow draws much of its style cues from automotive and aerodynamic design schemes of the 1950s. We find these retro-futuristic and clean lined elements not only in the elongated shape of the watch’s case, but also in its stepped dial, stylish hour markers, and sharply edged hour and minute hands — altogether culminating in one of the brand’s more intriguing vintage-inspired models in recent memory.
The Silver Arrow’s round, 38.5-mm polished steel case case has lugs that follow and extend the shape for an overall clean exterior construction. On its right side is a vintage-style, cone-tipped crown with push/pull functionality that allows the watch a 30-meter water resistance, while a simple brown leather strap secures it to the wrist.
The box-style sapphire crystal is antireflective-coated and covers a relatively simple crème-colored dial with obvious vintage influences, starting with its domed shape and stepped construction. A black railroad-style minute track outlines the dial’s edge, and surrounds a lume-accented silver ring that slightly elevates the dial’s center. Along the edge of this elevated portion, the 12 midcentury-inspired hour markers rest, each of them featuring an interesting, striated look: elongated rectangles at the quarter positions and shorter square markers at those in-between. Sword-style hour and minute hands and a simple seconds pointer pass over the partially applied Longines logo toward the top of the dial and the cursive-script “Silver Arrow” towards the bottom.
The watch’s solid, engraved caseback visually recalls its midcentury inspiration with its depiction of a supersonic plane, which Longines dubs the “’Silver Arrow’ emblem.” The caseback itself is securely screwed down via the six notches that are used to turn it in and out of place with a specialized tool. Behind it beats the Longines Caliber L888.5, based on the ETA A31.L11 and finished specially by Longines. The automatic movement hosts 21 jewels and a silicon balance spring, beats at an uncommon frequency of 25,200 vph, and achieves an ample 72-hour power reserve.
The Longines Heritage Silver Arrow is available in the U.S. market as of this week, priced in line with the rest of the Heritage Collection at $2,100.
To learn more and inquire for purchase, you can visit Longines website, here.
The Longines Silver Arrow is a winner!!!!
A bit more effort into the Silver Arrow aircraft depicted on the caseback would not have gone amiss.