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Longines Master Collection 40mm Automatic Chronograph Mens Watch
Ref. L26294783
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Stepping up in the same colour and case shape
The Master Collection launched in 2005 as Longines's answer to a specific question: what does a dress chronograph look like when a house with genuine vintage archives builds one from memory rather than from trend. The result draws on the guilloché tradition the brand had used across its twentieth-century catalogue, here rendered as a barleycorn texture on the silver dial, set against painted black Arabic numerals and heat-blued hands — a combination that reads as warm in direct light and almost monochrome under overcast skies. At 11.7mm, this is unusually slim for a self-winding chronograph, and it is that thickness, more than anything else, that determines how the watch is actually worn. It disappears beneath a shirt cuff without distorting the line of a jacket sleeve, which very few automatic chronographs at 40mm manage. The L889 inside is built on an ETA architecture that Longines has developed for a 59-hour reserve, and the exhibition caseback makes clear that the finishing is not an afterthought — the movement is decorated and worth looking at. The bi-compax layout keeps the dial symmetrical, with running seconds and the 30-minute counter balanced across the dial, and the date sitting discreetly at six without crowding either register.
- Reference
- L26294783
- Brand
- Longines
- Collection
- Master Collection
- Case size
- 40mm
- Case thickness
- 11.7mm
- Lug width
- 21mm
- Case material
- Stainless steel
- Case shape
- Round
- Dial
- Silver
- Crystal
- Sapphire
- Movement
- Automatic
- Calibre
- ETA 2894
- Functions
- Chronograph, Date, Small seconds
- Water resistance
- 30m
- Bracelet / strap
- Leather strap
- Strap colour
- Brown
- Clasp
- Deployant clasp
- Lume
- Luminous
- Retailer
- Goldsmiths
Additional specifications
- Lug-to-lug
- 46.7mm
- Power reserve
- 59 hours
Learn more about Longines
Auguste Agassiz began trading watches in Saint-Imier in 1832, but the modern company dates from 1860, when his nephew Ernest Francillon built a factory in the meadows beside the Suze — the longines of the local dialect — and consolidated the scattered outworkers of the region under one roof.
Longines registered its winged hourglass in 1889. It is the oldest watch trademark still in continuous use.
The company's identity was built on precision and on timing things in public. It supplied chronographs for the first modern Olympic events it timed in 1896, timed the 1912 Federal Gymnastics Festival with a broken-wire mechanism accurate to a hundredth of a second, and developed the photo-finish camera and the quartz timing devices used across twentieth-century athletics.
Its aviation associations are equally deep. Longines instruments were carried by Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic in 1927, and the Hour Angle watch, designed to Lindbergh's own specification to simplify longitude calculation, remains in the catalogue. Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes both navigated by Longines.
The house was among the most decorated at nineteenth-century observatory trials, holding numerous precision records. Since joining the Swatch Group in 1983 it has occupied the accessible-heritage position: exclusive ETA-based movements, archive-driven designs through the Heritage line, and volume that makes it one of the group's most important brands.
- 1860
- Ernest Francillon builds the factory at Les Longines.
- 1889
- The winged hourglass is registered — the oldest watch trademark in use.
- 1912
- Broken-wire timing achieves hundredth-second accuracy.
- 1927
- Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic with Longines instruments.
- 1983
- Becomes part of the Swatch Group.
This watch appears in Stainless Steel (2,298), Automatic Watches (1,127), Chronographs (985) and Leather Straps (716).
Manufacturer’s guarantee
Your new watch
Frequently asked questions, and things you should know about this watch
Can I swim with it?
No. At 30m it will survive rain and handwashing, but not submersion of any kind.
Will the glass scratch?
Unlikely. Sapphire is second only to diamond in hardness and shrugs off everyday marking.
Does it need a battery?
No. It is automatic — the motion of your wrist winds it, and there is no cell to replace.
How long does it run for when it's not worn?
About 59 hours fully wound — enough to survive a night off the wrist, but not a full weekend.
What size strap does it take?
21mm. Any strap of that width will fit, and on most modern watches quick-release bars make the swap a two-minute job with no tools.
Will it fit my wrist?
Lug-to-lug is 46.7mm, which suits wrists from roughly 16cm (6¼ inches) upward.
Lug-to-lug decides fit more than case diameter does.
Is it a men's or women's watch?
Listed as men's, though at 40mm it sits in the range that suits anyone.
Cheapest place to buy
Goldsmiths is the only UK retailer we track stocking this reference, so there is nothing to compare it against today.
Who are Goldsmiths?
Goldsmiths has been selling watches in Britain since 1778 and is part of the Watches of Switzerland Group, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. They are an authorised dealer, so a watch comes with the manufacturer’s own warranty.
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