Longines Spirit Flyback Goes Dark and Durable in Titanium

Longines continue to expand their popular Spirit Flyback collection of Chronograph pilot’s watches with a new titanium edition. This isn’t the first Spirit release of the year, back in June Longines introduced the Spirit Zulu 39mm references that reimagined the GMT version of the watch at a significantly smaller size. However, for the new Spirit Flyback Titanium, they’ve stuck to the larger 42mm sizing.

Since we’ve already started talking about the case, let’s continue. In terms of shape it continues to have a round design with faceted lugs and a pronounced bi-directional rotating bezel with ceramic insert. Of course, now that it’s titanium, the case has a darker grey tone compared to the brighter lustre of steel, giving the piece a more utilitarian appearance. Plus, with the change to titanium, the piece has increased scratch resistance and lightweight properties, both of which are useful in the cockpit of an airplane.

While you by no means have to be a pilot to wear the Spirit Flyback, you can tell that it has been designed with the practicalities of aviation in mind. For example, the rotating bezel features a timing scale rather than a tachymeter so that you can record specific periods of time, vital for following directions and using visual navigation. For the same reason, the chronograph itself is a flyback model – something that you should’ve gathered from the watch’s name.

A flyback chronograph means that the chrono function can be stopped, reset and restarted with a single pusher press meaning you lose no precision when beginning to time a new split. The Spirit Flyback Titanium is equipped with a central chronograph seconds hand and a 30-minute timer at 3 o’clock. Mirrored on the other side of the dial making it a bicompax display is the small seconds subdial. Both the dial and bezel are in black which compliments the darker tone of the metal.

Powering the Longines Spirit Flyback Titanium is the Calibre L791.4 with silicon balance spring. It’s a really impressive movement with COSC chronometer certified status and featuring a large 68-hour power reserve. It also looks good through the exhibition caseback with its perlage finishing.

Does this watch change the world? Certainly not. Is it nice to have a more robust version of a popular pilot’s watch? Most definitely. Admittedly it is a fair bit pricier than its steel counterparts at £5,000 on titanium bracelet or £4,700 on NATO. That’s a £650 increase, which is a lot for a steel to titanium swap. However, it’s not unexpected, with the recent boom in titanium watches and their desirability, it seems like retail prices are starting to reflect the metal’s added prestige.

​Oracle Time 

Read More