Longines adds blue dials to the Spirit Pilot, from €2,600 on rubber

A year after Longines resized the Spirit Pilot in black, four new references arrive with matte blue dials. The launch spans the three-hand Spirit Pilot and the Spirit Pilot Flyback chronograph, each offered on a steel bracelet or on a dial-matching, Swiss-made blue rubber strap.

The black versions were met with much enthusiasm. Longines took the familiar Spirit recipe and toned it down: the Spirit Pilot got its simplest form, while the Flyback brought back a key aviation complication. Blue follows the usual order, since after black comes blue in most collections.

What the three-hander offers

The Spirit Pilot has a 39mm stainless steel case, 47.2mm lug-to-lug and 11.5mm thick, while the Spirit Pilot Flyback has a stainless steel case 39.5mm across, 47.4mm lug-to-lug and 13.4mm thick. It uses the L888.4 automatic caliber, which has a silicon balance spring and components giving magnetism resistance up to 10 times the ISO 764 standard.

That movement is COSC certified and runs at 25,200 vibrations per hour with up to 72 hours of power reserve. A screw-down crown and screw-in case back give the watch 100m of water resistance. Silver-colored hands, applied Arabic numerals and a refined minute track keep the dial legible.

The Spirit Pilot costs €2,950 on the steel bracelet, which has a micro-adjustable folding clasp, and €2,600 on the blue rubber strap. Longines is a Swiss maker, and its Spirit line is one we already track on price in our guides.

In our guide to Rolex Explorer alternatives, we described the Longines Spirit as a COSC chronometer from about $2,100 for a no-date, anti-magnetic brief. We also named the Spirit Zulu Time, from about $2,600, as an alternative to the Explorer II.

What the Flyback adds

A blue ceramic insert in the bidirectional bezel carries a countdown scale, and with the blue dial it gives the watch a monochromatic look.

A box-shaped sapphire crystal adds a vintage-inspired touch. Silver-colored hands and applied Arabic numerals with Super-LumiNova keep the cockpit-instrument theme, and the Flyback matches the three-hander's 100m water resistance rating.

The hand-wound Longines L792.4 powers it, visible through a transparent screw-in case back. It is COSC certified, with a silicon balance spring, a column wheel and a 68-hour power reserve.

The Flyback costs €5,450 on the steel bracelet and €5,100 on the blue rubber strap. A COSC-certified hand-wound flyback chronograph with a column wheel for less than €5.5k is the pitch, in a case size the source calls classic.

Flyback chronographs let the wearer restart the chronograph seconds hand from zero without stopping and resetting it first. Longines was working on them as early as the 1930s and filed its patent for a flyback chronograph in 1935.

Retro-styled aviation chronographs are often bulky and costly, and many use less traditional automatic calibers. The Flyback, in blue or black, stands apart from them. One early reaction called the chronograph a little small, with design cues close to the Blancpain Air Command.

Blue is widely considered the most popular color in the world, which is why Longines pairs both watches with dial-matching rubber. Color variations now matter more than ever in pilot watches, and the sober black-dial tool watch is no longer the only expectation.

Our guide to the best pilot watches covers the wider field these two enter, and our coverage of watches jewelry follows how brands keep refreshing such lines with new colorways.

Longines has not announced further Spirit Pilot colorways. One early commentator guesses green dials for both models in 2027, but that is a prediction and not a company statement.