Last year, Hodinkee released a collaboration with Longines that saw a 39mm Zulu Time made from titanium finally make its way to the market. Perhaps even better, they ditched the formal five stars on the bottom of the dial, making something of an idealized version of the Tudor Black Bay Pro in the process. While that limited edition is long since sold out, Longines are giving us the next best thing in regular production form, a new 39mm grade 5 titanium Zulu Time in the Spirit collection. There are a few notable changes here, but this should make fans of lightweight, highly accurate, traveler style GMTs very happy.
The biggest change with this example latest Zulu Time is the split ceramic bezel marking displaying the 24 hour scale. One half is matte black, while the other polished black, leading to a very subtle but usable day/night differentiation that we’re used to seeing on GMT watches. Elsewhere, the date aperture has taken its place at the bottom of the dial, and yes, the applied polished stars make a return here. That will make this a non-starter for some of you, but if you can get over that bit, there’s a truly compelling package here.
Longines is using the exclusive-to-them caliber L844.4 automatic movement that is COSC certified, and provides 72 hours of reserve on tap. This is a ‘flyer’ style GMT, meaning the hour hand can be adjusted on the fly while the 24 hour hand remains set to home time. It’s a movement that has all the bells and whistles, and manages to keep the overall thickness to a mere 13.5mm in a shot across the bow of the 14.6mm thick Tudor Black Bay Pro. Pair that with the use of titanium and you’re looking at an all around fantastic experience on the wrist.
The Spirit collection from Longines has a ton of potential, and we’ve seen a variety of truly interesting references released within. In fact, a new Flyback Chronograph was released alongside this watch. In every case, however, you’ll find a slew of rather formal hallmarks that take just adrift of the straightforward tools that we’d like to see them presented as, and while the Hodinkee LE highlighted that very fact, I’d love to see Longines acknowledge this in their own way.
The new Spirit Zulu time in titanium is priced from $4,275, making it highly competitive in an increasingly crowded field. This is a welcome release from the brand and also shows the ever increasing popularity of titanium, which makes a lot of sense in this platform. The new Zulu Time is available now from retailers and Longines alike, including their online shop. Longines