So the Longines Conquest 2023 has been released and I like the look of this. I have to be careful what jeweller I head down to, there are generally not a lot of options in Perth. I guess I will head over to Mazzucchelli’s in the city, they have a better range than the rest of their suburban outlets. There are some other high end jewellers in Perth that will no doubt carry this reference, but I will lack the ability to negotiate price and I hate to pay retail if I can help it.

The 41 mm case is a big change from the earlier versions, gone are the large crown guards and the large hourglass crown. For many, the crown and crown guards were the reason they never purchased the Conquest. I can see that the crown and crown guards were a point of discussion and they are pretty unusual.

Naturally there is a sapphire crystal, that is expected, there are layers of anti-reflective coating on both sides. However, the transparent case-back is sapphire crystal too, many timepieces have a mineral glass case-back so this is a good style. The former Conquest was really a HydroConquest case rated to 300 metres depth. The 2023 variant has a 100 metre water resistance and still has a screw-in crown – although an entirely different style.

The dial has changed, the oversized Arabic numerals at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock are gone, instead the dial uses index markers with no numerals on the dial. The date is at the 6 o’clock position as opposed to the 3 o’clock window on the previous model. I cannot read the date on the Reference L3.777.4.58.6 so am interested to see if the Reference L3.830.4.02.6 is an improvement in readability.

The calibre L888 is a Longines movement based on the ETA A31.L01 with a monocrystalline silicon balance-spring. Longines does not provide a whole lot of information so I was searching calibre reviews to learn it is a 21 jewel base beating at 25,200 vph with a 72 hour power reserve. The calibre 2892 is a better version of the base calibre with improved materials and finish. Longines has a pretty robust automatic movement supplied within the Swatch Group inventory, it is a solid and reliable movement with a finish aligned to Longines heritage.