Compressor style, sixties looks
By Tom Hargreaves, Falmouth, Cornwall ยท
Two crowns. Top one sets the inner bezel, bottom one does the time and date. That's the super compressor layout from the 1960s, and Longines' Legend Diver is a reissue of their own diver from that period.
I'm a fan of inner bezels for cold-water diving, for one simple reason: they can't get knocked. When you're rolling backwards off a RIB, a regular bezel can catch on all sorts. An inner one is tucked away behind the crystal. The downside is that working it with gloves on is fiddly, because you're turning a little crown rather than gripping a big ring. In cold water with seven mil gloves I wouldn't bother.
The case is 42 mm across and 13.6 mm thick, rated 300 m, closed back, and the L888.4 gives you 72 hours. The black dial with its painted numerals is lovely, and the lume is the old-fashioned creamy colour that looks right on a sixties design.
On the metal bracelet it costs $2,800 to $3,100. That's fair. Against an Oris Divers Sixty-Five you get much more water resistance and a longer reserve.
It does wear larger than 42 mm suggests, because the dial goes right out to the edge with no external bezel to shrink it visually. Try one on before you commit.