Longines Watches - A Review Of The BelleArti Collection

The Longines BelleArti watch, though based on an older collection, comes with subtle modern styling that gives it a contemporary lift without abandoning its previous incarnation. It is an elegant ladies watch that comes in various configurations that will suit all tastes and budgets. I have only one criticism of this collection but, overall, I like the timeless elegance of these timepieces.

The watch does have a certain timeless elegance that owes much to the 1920s. Out of all the Longines watches, the BelleArti is perhaps the most feminine. To my mind, the most sophisticated and alluring of ladies watches should be rectangular in shape; somehow, round dials just seem to lack a certain something, perhaps round dials look their best when a little larger. All Longines BelleArti watches are rectangular with a slight curvature that allows them to sit on the wrist perfectly.

I do have one criticism though, and that is that all of the watches in this collection have quartz movements. I would have liked to have seen at least a few models with mechanical movements, perhaps even an automatic or chronograph version. I know that the case of mechanical movements, especially chronographs does have to be a little larger to accommodate it, but I think that the overall feminine style of the watch would not have been compromised with a larger case.

Most of the watches in the collection have white mother-of-pearl dials although some come with black lacquered dials. Also, each has a resistant sapphire crystal with a non-reflecting coating inside and is water resistant to about 30 meters. The casing size varies from between 15.90 x 31.50 mm to 27.30 x 54.60 mm.

A feature that appears on most of the watches is a seconds subdial at 6 o'clock; it's square in shape. The hour and minute hands are 'Cathedral' shaped and come in stainless steel, gold and blue to match and complement the colors of the casing and dial.

Some of the Longines watches in this collection are adorned with diamonds. Depending on the model, the diamonds have a total weight of between 0.5 and 2.0 carats. The diamonds are not mounted on the dial but on the bezel of the watches.

Unusually for a watch collection, each watch features Arabic numbers on all hour markers, except at the 6 o'clock where the second subdial is located. There are no models that feature either Roman numerals or just plain hour markers.

Which model you choose and what case finishing, dial color and strap is a personal matter. However, if I were to buy one of these Longines watches it would have to be model reference: L2.501.0.83.8. It has a stainless steel case, white mother-of-pearl dial with 42 Top Wesselton VVS diamonds (0.548 carats) mounted on the side bezels. It also comes with a blue Jean's strap. I know this sounds very unsophisticated but the 'denim' bracelet perfectly complements the blue hands and steel casing while the whole ensemble looks very feminine but with a youthful charm.

Longines Watches - A Review Of The BelleArti Collection