For this week?s ?Vintage Eye,? we turn our attention to the vintage re-issue Longines Avigation BigEye. The watch, released late last summer, was one of the most critically-acclaimed timepieces of 2017, and for good reason. With its no-nonsense case, straightforward yet unique dial, and relatively accessible price point, the BigEye represents some of the best attributes in the vintage-revival trend for consumers looking to enter it. For the brand?s work, the watch received plenty of attention from the media and enthusiasts, but also received the ?Best Revival? award at last year?s Grand Prix de l?Horlogerie de Genève (or GPHG, for short), the industry?s premier awards show.
Yet, for all the attention the re-issue has received, the original BigEye the modern watch is based on is not well known. When I first saw the watch, I thought it must have been inspired by the ?BigEye? designs popular in some chronographs from the late 1960s and into the ?70s, a dial format distinguished by an enlarged right subdial on a watch?s face. Instead, the brand said it was based on a 1930s aviation design from a singular watch brought to the brand’s museum by a collector. Unfortunately, they are still unsure of the exact year of production, and, as of yet, no other copies have surfaced. Ultimately, whether the watch was mass produced or if this singular model was a prototype of some sort is irrelevant. Longines claimed and verified the timepiece as part of its history and then had the kn...