The Chinese year of the horse is upon us, as most people following the watch industry will know. These Chinese New Year limited editions we see yearly have become a big part of the release cycle of January, as the Chinese market is among the largest in the world, with more and more brands catering to that market. It also gives brands a chance and a sort of get out of jail free card in testing red dials and seeing how the market responds to these brave dial options.

Some brands do this phenomenally. We have seen Oris release a stunning new addition into the Artelier collection whihc we will go into greater detail later. We have also seen smaller brands like Vario releasing stunning special editions in the Versa line, which I will be making a whole different article about soon. Then you have the topic of conversation in this article, Longines. In the majority of articles been incredibly positive and optimistic about Longines, as I am a big fan of the brand and their design language, as well as their business strategy, which goes with my personal style and values. But this new watch for the year of the horse is a massive swing and a miss.

Let’s start of with the positives, or should I say positive as there is only one thing that I genuinelyinely enjoy, Longines have been grat at making cool rotors for their special edition pieces, we saw a phenominal rotor on the 100 year anniversary edition of the Spirit Zulu where the rotor was coated in rose gold and made to look like a map of the world. This one is decorated with a beautiful depiction of a horse. Longines is known for equestrianism, so it was expected that they would go hard into that facet of their universe. But no, this watch is a heavily uninspired take on what could have been truly great. Compared to their year of the snake Conquest Heritage piece, they took everything that worked with that watch and did it poorly.

Let’s start with what is on paper, the biggest issue: this is a dress watch within the Master Collection; instead of being a fantastically sized 38.5 mm like many of their special editions, it is 42 mm.  Considering that in general it is a huge size for a dress watch, and on average people from China tend to have an mid to small size wrist, meaning that the watch is sized out of the market it is catering to.

Another issue that only becomes evident once you take the time to go see it in person is the Anti-reflective coating, or lack thereof. This is not just an issue with this watch, as the blue Master Collection has the same problem; you can literally see yourself in the reflection of the watch. It is horrible for a watch of this price and from a brand of this caliber.

Compare it to another year of the horse special edition piece, this time from Oris, that watch is stunning in every way, the red is perfect with the complications and how they are spaced. The watch looks to have the perfect mix of simplicity and intricacy. The caliber is also very unique, having a 10-day power reserve. Big change with these watches is that the Oris is more than double the price, but also they keep true to their style and their crowd, they’re not trying to make a massive dress watch, they are making a classic Oris sports Chronograph.

But let me know what you think, am I completely wrong about this, and the watch is a hidden and misunderstood gem, please let me know through the comments below. Until next time.