Longines DolceVita collection

The DolceVita line expresses that feeling precisely, combining identifiable elements from the watchmaker’s past – the stylish rigour of the 1930s with 1950s post-war glamour - to produce a series of women’s watches that almost define that elusive quality that Longines has always been after: elegance.

This is a collection that contains any number of variations within a fixed pattern. The watches are rectangular but broad-sided enough to allow for flanking strings of inlaid diamonds. The shape of the case also speaks strongly of the geometric linearity of art deco. At six o’clock, there is invariably either a second dial or a date window.

Faces come in myriad colours, the hours marked off in roman or arabic numerals – and where arabic often in beautiful, antique style – or teardrop markers, while bracelets come in leather, stainless steel or 18-carat gold. There may not be anything definably Italian about all this – and with Kate Winslet as the line’s new-found ambassador, it’s not an issue that Longines is pushing - but then we all the recognise the Dolce Vita when we see it.