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Longines Master Collection 40mm Chronograph With Moon Phase Mens Watch
Ref. L26734783
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Stepping up in the same dial colour
Launched in 2005, the Master Collection was Longines making a formal case for its own mechanical credibility — a line built around in-house-modified movements carrying genuine complications, drawing its visual language from the brand's mid-century dress watches. This chronograph with moonphase sits at the heart of that argument. The L678 is the Valjoux 7751 architecture reworked by Longines to run at 28,800 vibrations per hour with a 66-hour power reserve — a movement respected in the trade precisely because it handles chronograph, triple calendar and moonphase simultaneously without becoming a servicing problem. The dial puts all of it to work at once: eight hands, a barleycorn-textured silver field, blued steel throughout, day and month apertures sharing the upper chronograph register, and the moonphase sitting at six o'clock. It is a great deal to read, and it rewards the effort. At 14.3mm the case is honest about what it contains — the stacked complication architecture leaves no room for flattery, and a tight shirt cuff will notice it — but the rounded case profile keeps it from reading as bulky on the wrist. The exhibition caseback shows the signed rotor and the movement beneath it, which on a watch of this mechanical density is a reasonable thing to look at.
- Reference
- L26734783
- Brand
- Longines
- Collection
- Master Collection
- Case size
- 40mm
- Case thickness
- 14.30mm
- Lug width
- 21mm
- Case material
- Stainless steel
- Case shape
- Round
- Dial
- Silver
- Crystal
- Sapphire
- Movement
- Automatic
- Calibre
- L678
- Functions
- Chronograph, Day-date, Small seconds, Moonphase
- Water resistance
- 30m
- Bracelet / strap
- Leather strap
- Strap colour
- Brown
- Clasp
- Deployant clasp
- Lume
- Luminous
- Retailer
- Goldsmiths
Additional specifications
- Power reserve
- 66 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.
Also in 6 collections
This watch appears in the Longines Master Collection range (47), Stainless Steel Watches (3,307), Automatic Watches (1,811), Chronograph Watches (1,281), Leather Strap Watches (1,092) and Silver Dial Watches (747).
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What the specifications mean
A mechanical watch for everyday wear.
Strengths
- 40mm suits most wrists
- Sapphire crystal, which resists scratching
- 66-hour reserve survives a weekend off the wrist
- Luminous hands and markers for low light
Worth knowing
- 30m means keeping it away from water
- 14.3mm thick, so it will not disappear under a cuff
Longines Master Collection alternatives
Watches from other brands at a similar price, style and size, so you can see what else your budget can buy.
| Specification | L26734783 | 35123TA01.BMT12 | BM0A10467 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £3,350 | £3,290 | £3,200 |
| Case size | 40mm | 40mm | 40mm |
| Water resistance | 30m | 50m | 50m |
| Movement | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic |
| Strap | Leather strap | Stainless steel bracelet | Leather strap |
| Power reserve | 66 hours | 56 hours | 120 hours |
| This watch |
|
|
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.
Water resistance explainedWill the glass scratch?
Unlikely. Sapphire is second only to diamond in hardness and shrugs off everyday marking.
Sapphire, mineral and acrylic comparedDoes it need a battery?
No. It is automatic — the motion of your wrist winds it, and there is no cell to replace.
Quartz, automatic and solar comparedHow long does it run for when it's not worn?
About 66 hours fully wound — enough to sit off the wrist over a weekend and still be running.
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.
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
Mappin & Webb at £2,450 is the cheapest of 4 UK retailers, against £3,350 at the dearest — a difference of £900.
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