Longines Caliber L844.5 Watch Movement

Brand	Longines
Caliber Number	L844.5
In-House?	No
Base Caliber	ETA A31.411 (A31411)
Movement Type	Automatic, self-winding mechanical
COSC?	No
Lignes	11.5”’
Diameter	25.6mm
Jewels	21
Power Reserve	~72 hours
Lift Angle	51 degrees (unconfirmed!)
Beat Rate/Frequency	25,200 vph, 3.5Hz
Balance Spring	Monocrystalline silicon
Shock System	Nivashock
Rotor	Ball bearing system
Rotor Winding Direction	Bi-directional
Hand-Windable?	Yes
Manual Winding Direction	Clockwise
Hand-Count	4
Features	Central hours; central minutes; central sweeping seconds; central GMT hand; date at 6:00
Hacking Seconds?	Yes
Country of Manufacture	Switzerland, Swiss made
Known Models	Longines Hydroconquest GMT (Refs: L3.790.4.06.6, L3.790.4.56.6, L3.790.4.66.6, L3.790.4.96.6, L3.790.4.96.9, L3.790.4.06.2, L3.790.4.56.9, L3.790.4.66.2) (Add your watch in the comments below…)

The Longines caliber L844.5 is 4-hand automatic GMT watch movement with 21 jewels and a beat rate of 25,200. This movement was introduced in August 2023 in the Longines Hydroconquest GMT.

At the time of this post, the Longines official site simply lists it as caliber “L844” without the trailing .5 designator.

Some of the topics covered in this caliber listing:

Longines Calibre L844.5 VS L844.4:

There is a similar caliber L844.4 found in the Spirit Zulu GMT. Both calibers have 21 jewels, GMT complication with independent hour hand setting, beat rate of 25,200 bph, 72 hours of runtime and the silicon hairspring.

The main difference between the two movements seems to be that the L844.4 is a chronometer spec movement certified by COSC. If there is anything else that was missed here, please add it to the comments below…

GMT Complication:

Watches with the L844.5 are considered to be “true” GMT or “traveler’s” GMT thanks to its independently adjustable 12 hour hand – allowing for quick adjustment of time zones while maintaining your home time with the GMT hand.

ETA for Longines:

You may see some of the watch blogs and reviewers taut this movement as an ETA based movement “made exclusively” for Longines. That may be true (for now), but keep in mind that it’s just a fancy marketing way of dealing with the fact that ETA and Longines are both part of the Swatch Group conglomerate of watch companies, and the movements made by the ETA division are technically not “in-house”. For some unsuspecting enthusiasts, marketing jargon such as “exclusive” might have a similar effect as “in-house”. It’s not good or bad one way or the other, but it’s interesting to see the way brands handle marketing, and even more so the way some blogs handle the way they present a brand’s product to the market.

Caliber number location:

The L844.5 has the Longines caliber designation on the rotor and the ETA base movement engraving under the balance wheel. This movement is also marked with “V8” which you can learn more about here.