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Longines La Grande Classique 29mm Ladies Watch Red
Ref. L45230912
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 194 Longines watches in stock.La Grande Classique arrived in 1992 as a deliberate exercise in restraint — a watch built around the idea that a plain dial, kept flat enough to disappear under a cuff, could outlast any trend. Thirty years on, the collection holds to that logic, and this version pushes it further with a red lacquered dial and a perfectly matched alligator strap, so that the only interruption to the monochrome is the 44 Top Wesselton pavé diamonds set into the bezel, totalling 0.369 carats. The L420 comes from ETA's ultra-slim quartz stable, and its thinness is the reason the watch sits as close to the wrist as it does — at 29mm with a flat profile, it reads as jewellery first and a watch second, which is entirely the intention. The dial carries no hour markers, leaving the red lacquer unbroken beneath polished silver hands and the winged hourglass. Worth knowing: there is no lume on the hands or dial, so low-light legibility is not this watch's concern and never was.
- Reference
- L45230912
- Brand
- Longines
- Case size
- 29mm
- Case material
- Stainless steel
- Case shape
- Round
- Dial
- Red
- Crystal
- Sapphire
- Movement
- Quartz
- Calibre
- L420
- Water resistance
- 30m
- Bracelet / strap
- Leather strap
- Strap colour
- Red
- 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.
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?
Yes. It is quartz, so expect a battery change every two to three years at a jeweller.
Is it a men's or women's watch?
Listed as women'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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