Longines Master Collection watches

The Longines Master Collection is the brand's line of classic automatic watches. Longines launched it in 2005, and it went on to become the brand's best-selling line. Every model is self-winding, and beyond the three-hand watches the range takes in chronographs, moon phases, retrograde displays, power-reserve indicators and a world-time model that shows all 24 time zones.

Master Collection dials are decorated with a barleycorn pattern and paired with rhodium-plated or blued steel hands, and the case back is transparent. Two calibres show how the movements change with the complication. The 40 mm Moonphase (L2.909.4.92.6) uses the L899.5, with a power reserve of about 72 hours. The chronograph with triple calendar and moon phase (L2.673) uses the L687.5, a Longines-exclusive calibre based on the ETA 7751 in which a column wheel replaces the cam that controls the chronograph; its power reserve is about 66 hours.

The men's watches run from 38.5 to 44 mm: the 38.5 mm Power Reserve and Worldtime, the 40 mm Moonphase and Annual Calendar, the Chronograph Calendar at 40 and 42 mm, the Retrograde Moonphase at 41 and 44 mm, and 44 mm retrograde and power-reserve models. The 47.5 mm Small Seconds sits above them. Below, the 25.5 mm and 29 mm Date, the 34 mm Moonphase and the 36 mm Calendar bring mother-of-pearl dials and, on some, diamond-set bezels. Most cases are steel, with two-tone steel and yellow or pink gold versions and solid pink or yellow gold models.

Longines also made limited chronographs: two 44 mm editions of 100 pieces for the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Portugal, one in steel and one in pink gold; a 42 mm edition of 100 marking 500 years of circumnavigation; and a 44 mm steel edition of 50 made for Chile.