With the Longines Avigation, a model dating from 1949 and produced for the British army has been brought right up to date. The name given to this design – a contraction of “aviation” and “navigation” – refers to a navigation system invented during the 1920s. With precision and excellence as two of its cornerstones, Longines has been involved in the development of many instruments and timepieces that have proved invaluable to pilots.The circular steel case of the L2.831.4.53.2 has the same diameter as the original one, namely 44 mm. It houses an L704 self-winding, mechanical calibre which shows the hours, minutes, seconds and date, as well as having a second time-scale. As in the 1949 model, the movement is encased in a soft iron plate and dome which protect it from the effects of magnetic fields.The black dial features large white numerals as well as a 24-hour scale in red. The stick hands on the main dial are rhodium-plated and the lozenge-shaped hand on the second time-scale is red. All the hands are coated with Super-LumiNova®. The upper segment of the dial bears a distinctive sign, namely a broad arrow, used in the United Kingdom to denote government property, including military equipment and therefore the watches used by the British army. The Longines Avigation is fitted on a black alligator strap with a buckle.
