# Longines Conquest V.H.P. Adjustment Instructions (Caliber L288.2)



## GMF (Apr 30, 2005)

If you purchased a new Conquest V.H.P. at its debut in November 2017, you know the watch does not come with a manual that explains how to adjust the time and/or date. Through trial and error, and watching the interview with the CEO of Longines from Baselworld 2017, I think I've got the adjustment procedure figured out.









The "Smart Crown" of the new V.H.P. has three positions. So far as I can tell, Position 0 doesn't do anything. Pushing the crown in either briefly or holding it in doesn't do anything. Position 1 is normal running position. Position 2 is to adjust the time as follows:

To hack the watch to set it to a time reference:
1. Pull crown out to Position 2.
2. Slightly rotate the crown forward. The second hand will jump to the 12 o'clock position.
3. Rotate the crown rapidly either forward or backward to get to the desired hour. The hour and minute hand will advance together in one-hour increments.
4. Rotate the crown slowly to set the minute.
5. Push the crown in to Position 1 to restart the second hand at the reference time from 00 seconds.

To adjust the time either forward or backward WITHOUT HACKING:
1. Pull crown out to Position 2.
2. Rapidly spin the crown either forward or backward. (If you hesitate in the least, and turn the crown slowly, the second hand will jump to 12 o'clock and stop.)
3. The hour and minute hand will advance together forward or backward in one-hour increments.
4. Push the crown in to Position 1.

The hour hand is not independently adjustable, but the watch can be adjusted across time zones (or for Daylight Savings Time) without hacking as described above.

The date is preset at the factory until the year 2400 and cannot be adjusted. Presumably Longines and ETA will still be around 383 years from now and they can reset the perpetual calendar when the time comes.

Battery change: The movement has an EOL indicator. Changing the battery does not affect the perpetual calendar so long as the battery is changed within six months of the EOL going off. If it's longer than six months, the watch has to be sent back to Longines for the perpetual calendar to be reset.

Admins: Feel free to Sticky this post if you think it will be helpful.


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## ronalddheld (May 5, 2005)

Do not care for fast/slow spinning of a crown for adjustments.


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## GMF (Apr 30, 2005)

ronalddheld said:


> Do not care for fast/slow spinning of a crown for adjustments.


I didn't either at first. But it's not too bad once you get the hang of it.


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## DaveM (Aug 9, 2008)

Does not look too easy, just to be sure that I understand ..
Pulling out crown launches *adjust-mode*. Second-hand stops (but perhaps lost-movement restored when crown is pushed back in).
Slow adjustment sends second-hand to zero, we are now in *minute-adjust mode*. When crown is pushed back second should re-start from zero.
A 'quick flick' switches to *hour-adjust mode*. Each flick moves time by 1 hour. No separate hour-hand motor so hour-advance is by fast rotation of minute-hand.
It looks as if doing this re-starts the second-hands.

*So to set time :-*
Crown out
Slow adjust minutes to 'a minute later than now' (seconds hand will stop)
Push crown back in at the instant of next minute
*To set time zone :-*
Crown out
'Quick flick ' to launch hour mode. Seconds hand jumps forward to recover any lost time and then moves as normal
More flicks to get hour right
Push in crown.

Is this right ? Thanks for your information and video, Longines should pay you a commisson !


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## DaveM (Aug 9, 2008)

Just 2 other thoughts
1) It is easier to set time than on old VHP
... Old VHP had no seconds-zero and because the crown was stiff and small it was very tricky to differentiate between time and hour adjust.
2) On old VHP
... Push crown in for 3s to display date, month, year etc. Just tried it, had to push hard before it worked.
Perhaps new is the same


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## John MS (Mar 17, 2006)

I'm amazed that Longines did not include instructions for such a non-standard method of setting.


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## gangrel (Jun 25, 2015)

The simplest Citizen 3-handers at least have online manuals. 

No manual whatsoever? They're gonna get crucified online, *especially* when the procedures are so finicky.

If they set the year to 2400...it fails in 2020 or 2021, doesn't it? The most common perpetual calendar doesn't account for the tertiary calendar adjustment for the centuries; they stick with a simple 4 year length cycle. That includes my RF Seiko, IIRC. But this...we're in the 2nd year of the 4 year cycle. 2400 would be the 1st year.

Something doesn't add up.


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## gangrel (Jun 25, 2015)

yeahhh...this is the only manual they have:

https://www.longines.com/uploads/cu...ual/pdf/Instructions-for-use-English-2016.pdf

No calibre number...because it covers ALL the calibres, with the exception of the dressage movement, which has its own manual. It's also a 2016 publication.

Dunno about anyone else, but this is really a big turn-off for me, WRT the entire brand. I just don't care for the attitude towards customers it shows.


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## kapahoo (Apr 8, 2015)

Isn’t ”position 0” a bit weird?
Almost seems like they planned something else and didn’t make it...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## gangrel (Jun 25, 2015)

Position 0 is standard on a mechanical. It's the winding position. On a quartz, it's the normal, everyday running position.


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## kapahoo (Apr 8, 2015)

gangrel said:


> Position 0 is standard on a mechanical. It's the winding position. On a quartz, it's the normal, everyday running position.


Perhaps I didn't understand the start post right but didn't it say that Pos 0 did nothing and Pos 1 is the running position?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## gangrel (Jun 25, 2015)

Uhh...that makes no sense. Position 1 is not a stable, neutral position for the crown, as a rule. You probably wouldn't nudge the crown when it's on your wrist, but that could easily happen dressing, or stashing on a table, or whatever like that. Plus, why leave the crown out at all? It may not hurt any seal there, but it won't help.

A mechanical with this arrangement, position 1 is quick-set date. The watch usually continues to run. 

I'm thinking the watch still has some tricks for OP to work out. Which REALLY makes the lack of a manual an issue!


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## GMF (Apr 30, 2005)

gangrel said:


> Position 0 is standard on a mechanical. It's the winding position. On a quartz, it's the normal, everyday running position.


Uh, no. On the VHP, Position 1 is the normal running position. Position 0 is if you push the crown in, like a push button, and it pops back out to Position 1. No mechanical watch that I've ever seen has a Position 0.


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## tmathes (Jan 11, 2013)

As a rule Longines and Omega manuals are "one size fits all" and hideously written. Often if you have a new model with a new movement the included manual doesn't even have the movement in there (the Flagship 60th Anniv. model is another case in point). Why Longines does this is beyond me, they give you a massive manual but to often a model may not be in there AND it's skimpy at best as to what it says about the movement if it's in there (I'd say negligent since it often doesn't say much about accuracy).

Citizen, and Seiko to some extent, have vastly better manuals; Citizen also often has videos on YouTube to help. Even lowly Timex does the same thing, both a decent written manual and videos on YT, for their more complicated watches. I cannot believe Longines didn't at least put up some decent videos on their web site or on YouTube to help customers when "lesser" brands routinely do the same.

As for the way the crown is used, it sounds a lot like the motor driven Citizens. I personally like the idea but I'll wait for a while before considering this model for my collection. I'm not convinced this movement will hit the claimed specs based on my two Precidrive Certinas accuracy and I'd like to see what happens with other users when time comes for a battery change (ie difficulty in changing it AND if the date info is indeed retained).


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## gangrel (Jun 25, 2015)

Ohhh...ok, well, I get it then. It's not a "position" in the usual sense, because it's not held there.


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## gangrel (Jun 25, 2015)

ooohhh...my bad on the year/date thing.

It's set UNTIL 2400. My bad.


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## kapahoo (Apr 8, 2015)

GMF said:


> Uh, no. On the VHP, Position 1 is the normal running position. Position 0 is if you push the crown in, like a push button, and it pops back out to Position 1. No mechanical watch that I've ever seen has a Position 0.


Thanks for the clarification.

Regarding setting the date, I guess the date must move forward if you set the time to tomorrow or more (and backward if you change the time to yesterday). Like a mechanical watch. A bit cumbersome though.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## thermalboyz (Nov 25, 2014)

thanks for the instructions. Got mine today!!


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## GMF (Apr 30, 2005)

thermalboyz said:


> thanks for the instructions. Got mine today!!


You're welcome. I'm assuming yours came with the same instruction booklet mine did, with no instructions for the VHP?


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## thermalboyz (Nov 25, 2014)

GMF said:


> You're welcome. I'm assuming yours came with the same instruction booklet mine did, with no instructions for the VHP?


No VHP L288.2 instructions on the manual. It looks like a Longines generic manual for most of their movement . Yeah, I told the AD about it and they will feedback to Longines.


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## Mondo Shizmo (May 2, 2017)

Awesome information on this, thank you as I just ordered a V.H.P.


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## kapahoo (Apr 8, 2015)

Can ”pos 0” be waking up from deep sleep energy save?


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## gaijin (Oct 29, 2007)

Mondo Shizmo said:


> Awesome information on this, thank you as I just ordered a V.H.P.


You can find the manual here: https://www.longines.com/uploads/cu...s-use-manual/pdf/user-manual-conquest-vhp.pdf

HTH


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## gangrel (Jun 25, 2015)

Well!!!

A little late, but at least it's out there now.

Not fond that if you let the battery completely die, it requires a factory reset. Obviously, this is something you can avoid, but still...


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## GMT-man (Dec 1, 2017)

gangrel said:


> Not fond that if you let the battery completely die, it requires a factory reset. Obviously, this is something you can avoid, but still...


You have 6 month's time to act. If one does not even look at the watch for half a year why would anybody even get one in the first place?


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## H.van Hoof (Jun 23, 2018)

GMF said:


> If you purchased a new Conquest V.H.P. at its debut in November 2017, you know the watch does not come with a manual that explains how to adjust the time and/or date. Through trial and error, and watching the interview with the CEO of Longines from Baselworld 2017, I think I've got the adjustment procedure figured out.
> 
> View attachment 12647239
> 
> ...


Dear GMF,

I just bought my Conquest V.H.P. and very happy with it.
Now accurate to -0,5 sec. in two months!

I believe your watches (all high accurcy) are great. I envy you.........
I would love to know how accurate all of them are, and how old they are.

Please reply!!!!

Thanks.


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## ronalddheld (May 5, 2005)

H.van Hoof said:


> Dear GMF,
> 
> I just bought my Conquest V.H.P. and very happy with it.
> Now accurate to -0,5 sec. in two months!
> ...


Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of data on the precision of our watches on this forum.


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## Thundercatjames (Jul 1, 2018)

Thank you GMF. I was wondering if pushing in the crown did anything.

Instructions do come with the watch now but they don't have much detail. Not even the hacking feature you have described.


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## jrpippen (May 5, 2009)

Hey Guys! Sorry for the threat resurrection but. . .

I have my conquest VHP three handed right here. Battery life indicator was going. So swapped battery in 60 seconds. Date has jumped to days (now showing the 5th) and I can’t find any way to sort it.



any ideas?


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## Tomc1944 (Sep 21, 2009)

jrpippen said:


> Hey Guys! Sorry for the threat resurrection but. . .
> 
> I have my conquest VHP three handed right here. Battery life indicator was going. So swapped battery in 60 seconds. Date has jumped to days (now showing the 5th) and I can't find any way to sort it.
> 
> any ideas?


Go fast backwards until you get right date and then make sure you are in the am or pm and set time.


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## ronalddheld (May 5, 2005)

jrpippen, it was not necessary to bump two old threads.


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