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Longines Spirit Flyback 42mm Stainless Steel Blue Sunray Dial
Ref. L38214936
Sits in Longines’s upper tier here — more premium than three quarters of the Longines watches we list, which start at £1,050.
Price range £1,050 to £22,850 across 270 Longines watches in stock.The Spirit collection began as Longines reaching back into its own aviation past — the brand supplied pilots and navigators for the better part of the twentieth century, and the Spirit line draws that history forward into a modern case architecture. The flyback function is the point of connection: where a standard chronograph requires three pushes to reset and restart, a flyback does it in one, which matters when you are recording successive intervals under pressure. The L791 is a COSC-certified movement built around a column-wheel flyback mechanism and a silicon balance spring that resists magnetic fields without shielding. Sixty-eight hours of power reserve means a watch left off the wrist on Friday morning is still running Monday. The caseback is transparent, and the rotor is engraved with the Spirit globe — a detail that rewards the occasional look beneath. At 17mm thick, this is a substantial wearing experience, and there is no honest way around that. The 49.5mm lug-to-lug keeps it from sprawling across the wrist, but the stack height is present and deliberate, driven by the flyback module sitting above the base calibre. The sunray blue dial and ceramic bezel insert work together in changing light; the quick-release bracelet means a leather strap is a thirty-second change should the occasion call for it.
- Reference
- L38214936
- Brand
- Longines
- Collection
- Spirit
- Case size
- 42mm
- Case thickness
- 17mm
- Lug width
- 22mm
- Case material
- Stainless steel
- Case shape
- Round
- Dial
- Blue
- Crystal
- Sapphire
- Bezel
- Bidirectional rotating
- Movement
- Automatic
- Calibre
- L791
- Functions
- Chronograph
- Water resistance
- 100m
- Bracelet / strap
- Stainless steel bracelet
- Strap colour
- Silver
- Clasp
- Folding clasp
- Lume
- Luminous
- Retailer
- Goldsmiths
Additional specifications
- Lug-to-lug
- 49.5mm
- Power reserve
- 68 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.
Manufacturer’s guarantee
What the specifications mean
A mechanical watch for everyday wear.
Strengths
- 100m water resistance covers swimming and watersports
- 49.5mm lug-to-lug keeps the 42mm case wearable
- Sapphire crystal, which resists scratching
- 68-hour reserve survives a weekend off the wrist
- Luminous hands and markers for low light
Worth knowing
- 17mm thick, so it will not disappear under a cuff
Compare alternatives
Watches from other brands at a similar price, style and size, so you can see what else your budget can buy.
| Specification | L38214936 |  2785-BKR-20000 |  129766 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £3,480 | £3,495 | £3,035 |
| Case size | 42mm | 42mm | 42mm |
| Water resistance | 100m | 100m | 100m |
| Movement | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic |
| Strap | Stainless steel bracelet | Rubber strap | Rubber strap |
| Power reserve | 68 hours | 38 hours | — |
| This watch | Closely matched |
|
Your new watch
Frequently asked questions, and things you should know about this watch
Can I swim with it?
Yes. At 100m it is rated for swimming and snorkelling, though not for diving.
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 68 hours fully wound — enough to sit off the wrist over a weekend and still be running.
What size strap does it take?
22mm. 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 49.5mm, which suits wrists from roughly 16.5cm (6½ 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.
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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