Teddy Baldassarre
Longines HydroConquest Buyer's Guide
The Longines HydroConquest features a boldly contemporary design and a sturdy, water-resistant construction that have made it one of the most popular dive watches in its sport-luxury price segment. Since its debut in 2007, the Longines HydroConquest has expanded into a versatile collection with an array of sizes, colorways, and materials to appeal to a wide audience of dive watch enthusiasts. Here are seven things to know if you're looking at adding a Longines HydroConquest watch to your collection. The Longines HydroConquest has its roots in Longines’ very first named collection from 1954. Longines, which derives its name from “les longines,” aka “the long meadows” that surround the Swiss village of Saint-Imier where it was founded, has been making timepieces since 1832. It wasn’t until 1954, however, that Longines began engaging in the modern marketing practice of introducing product families with distinctive names. “Conquest” was the first such name to be registered, on April 3, 1954, with the Swiss Register of Intellectual Property. The original Longines Conquest (reproduced above) was designed as one of the first generation of “modern” wristwatches, i.e., equipped with a highly accurate automatic movement and a water-resistant case that also protected the movement from magnetism and shocks. Despite its utilitarian elements, the original Conquest was undeniably a dress watch, with a very modest 35mm case; a clean, minimalist dial; applied diamond...