Longines’ major release in 2020 was its Spirit collection, which it described as drawing ?traditional features from pilot?s watches and combin[ing] them with contemporary lines and codes.? All of the watches pay stylistic tribute to the vintage models worn by adventurous, early 20th-century aviators like Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes, with standout features including an oversized fluted crown, a pronounced, stepped bezel and minute-scale flange, large Arabic hour numerals with diamond-shaped indices, and big, luminous baton hands. Thus far, the Spirit collection comprises a trio of three-hand-date models (one of which I review here) and one chronograph (stay tuned). Read on for my impressions of the time-and-date Ref. L3.810.4.53.0. in a 40-mm case.
The Spirit recalls the look of historical Longines pilots’ watches.

As Longines intended, the Spirit’s case design calls to mind the rugged aviator watches of old, albeit boasting a distinctly contemporary finish ? or, more accurately, combination of finishes. The sloped bezel on my black-dialed review watch is brushed on its top surface and polished on its side; a similar arrangement elegantly defines the rest of the case, with brushed non-reflective surfaces on the top and sides of the curving lugs, accentuated by gleaming, polished, faceted lines. The fluted crown is onion-shaped, in classic pilots? style ? not nearly as large as it would have been in one of the 1930s pilot watches that inspired it,...