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Longines La Grande Classique Blue Dial 39mm Ladies Watch
Ref. L45230902
Sits in Longines’s upper tier here — more premium than three quarters of the Longines watches we list, which start at £900.
Price range £900 to £22,850 across 271 Longines watches in stock.La Grande Classique arrived in 1992 as Longines' answer to a specific kind of dress watch: one slim enough to disappear under a cuff, plain enough to read as jewellery without trying. This example in blue takes the collection's logic a step further — dial, strap and mood held in a single colour, with 44 Top Wesselton diamonds set into the bezel as the only interruption. At 29mm and 4.5mm thick, it sits on the wrist with almost no presence at all, which is the intention. The blue lacquered dial carries no indices, no lume, nothing to break the surface — just polished silver-toned hands against an uncluttered ground. The alligator strap in matching blue draws the whole thing together rather than framing it, and the pin buckle keeps the profile as flat as the case.
- Reference
- L45230902
- Brand
- Longines
- Collection
- La Grande Classique
- Case size
- 39mm
- Case thickness
- 4.5mm
- Lug width
- 16mm
- Case material
- Stainless steel
- Case shape
- Round
- Dial
- Blue
- Crystal
- Sapphire
- Bezel
- Fixed
- Movement
- Quartz
- Calibre
- L420
- Water resistance
- 30m
- Bracelet / strap
- Leather strap
- Strap colour
- Blue
- Clasp
- Buckle
- Lume
- Luminous
- Retailer
- Goldsmiths
Additional specifications
- Origin
- Swiss made
- Gem set
- Yes
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.
Best of 2 retailers
What the specifications mean
A slim watch on leather, made for wearing with a shirt.
Strengths
- 39mm suits most wrists
- 4.5mm is unusually slim for a 39mm case
- Sapphire crystal, which resists scratching
- Luminous hands and markers for low light
- One of Longines's more premium watches
Worth knowing
- 30m means keeping it away from water
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?
Yes. It is quartz, so expect a battery change every two to three years at a jeweller.
Quartz, automatic and solar comparedWhat size strap does it take?
16mm. 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 women's, though at 39mm it sits in the range that suits anyone.
Cheapest place to buy
Both Mappin & Webb and Goldsmiths list it at £3,450, so choose on delivery and warranty rather than price.
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