INTERNATIONAL WRISTWATCHES

1832s: The birth of Longines

The Longines story began in 1832 when Auguste Agassiz moved to the tiny Swiss town of Saint-Imier and found work at the Comptoir horloger Raiguel Jeune, a watch parts trader. A year later, he and two associates, Florian Morel and Henri Raiguel, set up the Comptoir Raiguel Jeune & Cie. One of Agassiz's sisters, Olympe, then married Charles-Marc Francillon, a Lausanne-born businessman, and in 1834 they had a son, Ernest.

When Henri Raiguel retired, in 1838, ownership of what had become Comptoir Agassiz & Cie passed to Auguste Agassiz and Florian Morel. In 1847, Auguste Agassiz became the venture’s sole owner. In 1852, his nephew Ernest Francillon joined the company, finally taking over from his uncle in 1862. Now styled Ancienne Maison Auguste Agassiz, Ernest Francillon, Successeur, the company was ready for business. At that time, watchmaking in the area was still largely a cottage industry, with all the work done at home on parts later assembled elsewhere.

1860s: The first Longines watch

In 1866, Francillon acquired two plots of land on the outskirts of Saint-Imier, on the right bank of the Suze river near a place called Les Longines (meaning “long and narrow fields “ in the dialectal French of the area). There he built the first Longines factory, an investment that finally allowed him to gather his entire workforce under one roof for the first time.

In 1867, Longines’ first movement, called L20A, entered production in the new premises. At the time, watches were all key-wound. Longines’ first watch broke with this tradition, its lever movement being wound and set by the crown. Ernest Francillon personally presented his novel timepiece at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris. He returned to Saint-Imier with a bronze medal.

Starting with his very first watch movement in 1867, Francillon’s entire production featured the engraving of a winged hourglass as identification. By 1874, the company had already sent out its first circular warning customers against counterfeit movements.

1880s: Registration of the Longines name and trademark

On July 19th, 1880, at 11:00 am, Ernest Francillon entered the premises of the Swiss Federal Office of Intellectual Property to register the original Longines brand and its winged hourglass symbol under numbers 118 and 119 respectively. The new Longines logotype was first registered under number 2684 at 4:00 pm on May 27th, 1889 at the Swiss Federal Office of Intellectual Property and under number 14 on March 27th, 1893 at the International Office of Intellectual Property (today WIPO, World Intellectual Property Organization).

Universal Exhibitions
In 1885, Longines won its first Grand Prix at the Universal Exhibition in Antwerp. Further success followed in Brussels, in 1897, Paris in 1889, 1900 and 1925, Milan, in 1906, Genoa, in 1914, Bern, in 1914, Philadelphia, in 1926 and Barcelona, in 1929. Longines' record of ten Grand Prix and 28 Gold Medals has never been equalled by any other watch manufacturer.

1900s: Universal Exhibition in Paris

Pressing market demand with respect to both technology and styling drove watchmakers at Longines to design caliber L21.59. After the first Longines watch’s 1867 bronze medal, in 1900 Longines caliber 21.59 won a Grand Prix at the Universal Exhibition in Paris with a one-of-a-kind creation called La Renommée, in 18K gold.

The first wristwatches

When watches gradually migrated from waistcoat to wrist, Longines was in 1905 the first to turn out wristwatches by largely mechanical means. This innovation marked the start of a complete reorganization of the Longines’ factory working and production methods during the 1920s and 1930s.

1910s: The first shaped watches

As early as 1912, Longines watches began to lose their round silhouette, the better to explore, and exploit, the geometry of elegance. Truly revolutionary for the period, Longines’ rectangular and square-shaped models marked the start of a century of Longines design. Style followed style in any number of variations as taste turned into trend and trend into fashion, made possible by ever finer craftsmanship and sophisticated technology

Longines and gymnastics

Longines entered the world of gymnastics at the 1912 Swiss Federal Gymnastics Meet in Basel, Switzerland. The partnership resulted in a world’s premiere: the introduction of automatic timing. Longines used an electromechanical system with start and finish tapes, fielded for the first time for the 80-meter dash. It marked a turning point in Longines’ increasingly close cooperation with the world of gymnastics.

1920s: Elegance in communication

During the 1920s and 30s, Longines accumulated design experience while new movement shapes prompted a new generation of Longines watches featuring Art Deco geometry and trim rectangular or square cases. Such models were featured in 1928 in the first Longines advertisements, with “Elegance“ as its unique selling proposition. During that period, Longines launched three of its most memorably elegant watches, enhanced with diamonds and sapphires, which years later were reintroduced in a special limited vintage edition to celebrate 170 years of Longines elegance in watchmaking

The first nonstop transatlantic flight timed by Longines

In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh made the first solo and nonstop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, timed by Longines. In 1931, he designed a new instrument for Longines that earned a place in history as the hour-angle air navigation watch.

Longines and equestrian events

In 1926, Longines participated in its first International Horse Show in Geneva, Switzerland. This event marked the start of a long and intense relationship between elegant equestrian sports and Longines, resulting in the first award, in 2000, of the Longines Prize for Elegance in equestrian sports at the Jumping International de Cannes, in southern France.

1930s: Feminine elegance in aviation

The nineteen thirties saw a number of flying exploits succeed with timekeeping support from Longines. One adventurer of the skies equipped with a Longines timepiece was Amelia Earhart, who in 1932 was the first woman aviator to fly from Newfoundland to Ireland. The exploits of the aviation pioneers of the period inspired Longines in 1938 to design a second navigation instrument, called the siderograph

1940s: The first Longines selfwinding movement

The design of caliber L22A with bidirectional oscillating weight in 1945 marked the birth of men's selfwinding movements at Longines.

1950s: “The Longines Circle”

“Science and elegance” constituted the shared values prized by “The Longines Circle”, composed of people partial to luxury, elegance and precision. Longines launched a communication campaign on that theme in 1953.

Olympic Games

Longines, as the official timekeeper for the 1952 Winter Olympic Games in Oslo, Norway, has played a timekeeping role at nearly every Olympic Game, both for the summer and the winter games

1960s: Diamonds-International Academy

During the nineteen sixties, no fewer than four Diamond Academy Awards were earned by Longines designs. In addition, Longines won in 1964 the Prix d’Honneur of the Swiss city of Lausanne, part of the events celebrating the Swiss National Exhibition, held every quarter of a century

1970s: Golden Rose of Baden-Baden

When the quartz revolution of the 1970s changed the industry forever, it took some time for designers, and of course their employers, to recover from an “everything is possible“ mentality and return to their primary role, creating beauty on the wrist. Longines designers succeeded brilliantly, with Flore Marine (1970), Vagues (1970), Kleopatra (1975) and Volubilis (1978) all winning a prestigious German award, the Golden Rose of Baden-Baden.

Design breakthroughs
In 1972, Paris-based French designer Serge Manzon created specially for Longines a series of solid silver watches. Even today, these avant-garde designs remain a source of inspiration for not a few watch manufacturers. One year later, a Longines model called Prototype won the coveted Prize of the City of Geneva award.

Technical advances support aesthetic developments
By 1960 Longines set new records with the thinnest electromagnetic watch ever made. Nineteen years later, in 1979, its Feuille d'Or models, fitted with caliber L795, broke the two-millimeter thinness barrier to become the world's slimmest watch, measuring an astonishing 1.98 mm from front to back. The secret: a quartz movement totally integrated into the case.

1980s: More ultra-thin designs

Technical innovation marked the start of the decade and opened new areas to pioneering design.

In 1980 the creation of a diminutive movement, caliber L960, designed for women’s watches, gave Longines’ creative teams fresh impetus, resulting among other successes in a silver medal at the Bijhorca jewelry and watch salon in Paris. Longines’ “Clip” design also won the Montres et Bijoux de Genève prize that year.

In 1982 Longines celebrated its 150th anniversary with a collection of ultra-slim gold watches called Agassiz. Only 3 mm thin yet water-resistant. These models have remained in the Longines collection since under the name of La Grande Classique de Longines.

By 1983, steady research and development miniaturization efforts yielded caliber L961, a tiny baguette movement barely 1.75 mm thick, leading to the design of breathtakingly slim women' s watches

Longines and Ferrari

1982 saw the birth of a new advertising campaign featuring a special collection dedicated to Longines’ partnership with the Ferrari Formula 1 Racing team. The advertisement for this collection was photographed at the fabled Paris restaurant La Grande Cascade.

The conquest of precision

In 1984, Longines launched its Conquest line fitted with the VHP (Very High Precision) movement developed by Longines. Thanks to their thermocompensating design, VHP models are 5 to 10 times more precise than a normal quartz watch.

Longines and the world of gymnastics
After having timed a great number of gymnastics events, starting with its initial efforts at the 1912 Swiss Federal Gymnastics Meet in Basel, Longines in 1989 became the official partner, timekeeper and data-handling operator of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the European Gymnastics Union (UEG). In 1997, it awarded its first Longines Prize for Elegance in gymnastics at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Berlin, Germany, to Russian gymnast Yanna Batyrchina.

1990s: La Grande Classique de Longines

Based on its Agassiz designs in gold, Longines launched its La Grande Classique de Longines collection of ultra-slim designs in stainless steel.

“L’Elégance du temps depuis 1832”

With the introduction of the now-established Longines DolceVita collection based on Longines models from the 1920s and 1930s, Longines introduced its baseline, “L’Elégance du temps depuis 1832” (Elegance in Time since 1832) in 1997.

Cadran d’Or

The Longines DolceVita chronograph won the prestigious French prize, Cadran d’Or, in the “Men’s Luxury Watch” category in 1999.

“Elegance is an attitude”

Two years later came the launch of the current “Elegance is an attitude” advertising campaign featuring legendary stars of the silver screen Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart along with icons of contemporary elegance representing various cultural backgrounds.

2000s

Longines DolceVita Diamond Collections
2001: designed in salute to feminine elegance, Longines introduced the Longines DolceVita Diamond Collections. At a gala evening in Milan for the launch of the collection, Longines awarded its first Longines Prize for Elegance outside the world of sports to Alessandra Ferri, Lamberto Sposini and Sergio Loro Piana.

30 Millionth Longines Watch
On February 19th, 2001, Longines celebrated the 30 Millionth Longines Watch with a commemorative collection of 990 pieces featuring an L.990 caliber mouvement. Later that year, this collection won Swiss watchmaking’s most important prize: La Montre de l’année (The Watch of the Year award), voted by the readers of the Swiss magazines L’Hebdo and Schweizer Illustrierte.

170 Years of Elegance in Watchmaking
Never modified, in uninterrupted use and constantly updated, the world’s oldest registered brand name in watchmaking – Longines, with its winged hourglass logo – began the year 2002 in style, with the launch of Les Elégantes, a commemorative collection of three vintage jewelry watches, unveiled at a reception celebrating 170 years of elegance at the Pavillon Ledoyen, located on Paris’ celebrated Champs Élysées.

125 years of Longines Timekeeping
Longines’ involvement with timekeeping began in 1878 with a simple pocket-watch-sized chronograph designed for sports clubs. In later years, Longines and other Swatch Group companies performed official timekeeping and other duties at 28 Olympic Games, about 180 World Championships, 9 Asian Games, 11 Commonwealth Games, 11 Mediterranean Games, 13 Pan-American Games, 17 University Games and at countless top-tier sports meets. In 2003, Longines celebrated 125 years of exceptional timekeeping performance and introduced its “Honor and Glory” set, a 125-piece limited edition containing a vintage sports timer and an elegant wrist chronograph.

Longines evidenza
Based on a 1925 tonneau-shaped design, the Longines evidenza collection presented in 2003 demonstrated a unique, and highly successful, approach to contemporary styling.

The Longines Olympic Collection
In 2004, Longines fielded The Longines Olympic Collection as a tribute to over a century of modern Olympic Games – two models of a classically elegant chronograph, presented together with an attractive publication dedicated to the development of sports timekeeping by Longines.

Longines LungoMare
With the introduction of the Longines LungoMare collection in 2004 appeared a design coupled to such irresistible attractions as the amenities and creature comforts of the fabled resorts of the Mediterranean coast.

The Longines Master Collection
The Longines Master Collection of 2005 sums up Longines’ expertise and experience spanning more than two centuries. It is reaching world markets precisely as consumers signal their clear preference for products that not only offer embody genuine value but unmistakable character as well.