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Longines Flagship Elegant 38.5mm Mens Watch Silver
Ref. L48154782
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 161 Longines watches in stock.The Flagship Heritage reaches back to the 1950s, when Longines was producing some of the most refined slim dress watches in Switzerland. This version carries the moonphase complication — a choice that doubles down on that era's sensibility rather than hedging toward versatility, and the date and lunar display sitting together at six o'clock is handled without crowding the dial. At 38.5mm the proportions suit a formal context well: present without imposing, and the ivory dial with gilt hands reads warmly rather than coldly against the brown alligator. The L899.5 calibre provides 72 hours of reserve, which means a weekend off the wrist carries no penalty on Monday morning. The caseback carries a gold medallion — the kind of detail that costs the manufacturer something and serves nobody but the owner. That, and the screw-down construction, suggest this was not designed purely for the shop window.
- Reference
- L48154782
- Brand
- Longines
- Case size
- 38.5mm
- Case material
- Stainless steel
- Case shape
- Round
- Dial
- Ivory
- Crystal
- Sapphire
- Movement
- Automatic
- Calibre
- L899.5
- Functions
- Date, Moonphase
- Bracelet / strap
- Leather strap
- Strap colour
- Brown
- Clasp
- Buckle
- Lume
- Super-LumiNova
- Retailer
- Goldsmiths
Additional specifications
- Origin
- Swiss made
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
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.
Is it a men's or women's watch?
Listed as men's, though at 38.5mm 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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