Longines Marks 90 Years of Charles Lindbergh’s Atlantic Crossing

With a remake of the watch Lindbergh himself designed, but in titanium and dressed in modern colours.

After Charles Lindbergh completed his transatlantic flight in 1927, turning him into perhaps the most famous pilot in history, the aviator designed the Hour Angle watch for Longines. Conceived for a pilot to calculate longitude during a flight, the original Hour Angle was a distinctive, oversized wristwatch that’s now valuable, selling for US$50,000 or more.

Several remakes of the Hour Angle have been produced over the years, but the Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch 90th Anniversary is unusual. It’s a faithful replica of the origin in size and design, but with a twist: the case is titanium while the colour scheme is a contemporary black and silver.

Longines Lindbergh 90th Anniversary 1

The case is 47.5mm in diameter, just like the original, but made of titanium, making it noticeably lighter than it looks. The bezel has a glossy black coating. Inside is the L699.2, an automatic calibre that is actually the ETA A07.L01, essentially a Valjoux 7750 with the chronograph mechanism removed.

An original from the Longines museum

Lindbergh’s sketch for the Hour Angle

A 1937 Lindbergh Hour Angle watch that sold at Phillips in Hong Kong for US$45,000 in May 2017

Price and availability 

Limited to only 90 watches, the Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch 90th Anniversary (ref. L2.678.1.71.0) is priced at SFr5000 or S$7950.


 

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