The retro pilot’s chronograph stands out for its mismatched subdials and lack of date window 

By Chris Hall

This is the Longines Heritage Avigation BigEye chronograph. It?s the latest addition to Longines? much-loved Heritage range, and it is based on a model from the 1930s that was recently acquired by the brand?s in-house museum.
True to Longines Heritage form, it is a very faithful tribute to the original. As you would expect, the only major aesthetic change is the step up to a bigger case – but at 41mm it hasn?t gone overboard.

The standout points for the BigEye are – you guessed it – the unusually oversized 30-minute chronograph subdial at 3 o?clock which makes the watch look like it has one eye bigger than the other, and a pair of oversized pushers. These were in the original iteration designed for ease of use by pilots wearing gloves. 
These days, they serve to give it character – something we have come to expect from Longines? Heritage line. The thing that will really endear this watch to many, however, is the lack of a date window. Longines is in the incorrigible habit of adding a date to revived models, usually intruding at 4 o?clock, but not this time.
The logic is on one level sound: most Longines customers prefer to have a date (it is an undeniably useful complication) and the movements Longines is using tend to come with a date function as standard. But their inclusion on tributes to historical models that are...