Top 16 Facts About Longines – Interesting Things to Know
Longines is one of the oldest and most well-known premium Swiss watch brands in the world. Longines positions itself in the entry to mid-tier of Swiss watches and is known for classic, well-made timepieces that offer a good balance between price and quality.
Due to its age, Longines is a company with a long and rich history, focusing on elegance and tradition. The company is responsible for many innovations and inventions over the years and has contributed to pushing the Swiss watch industry forward. In this article, we are digging deep into the history of Longines and taking a closer look at some of the most interesting and notable facts about the company, its watches, and its history.
Top interesting facts about Longines
1. Longines’ office is in the same place as their headquarters
Talk about staying true to your roots! Longine’s headquarters is in the same place as the birthplace of the company, even after nearly 200 years! The headquarters is based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland.
2. The name comes from a roadside location
Many Swiss watch brands are named after their founders, either one or multiple, for example, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. But not Longines.
The name “Longines” comes from a roadside location. The company was founded by Auguste Agassiz and the original name for the Longines company was Raiguel Jeune & Cie. The name was chosen because of his partners at the time. The partners eventually retired from the company, leaving Auguste left as the only owner. Auguste then hired his nephew Ernest Francillon who contributed a lot to the company due to his education in economics. Francillon later took over the company when Aggasiz died and created the first factory for the brand. The factory was established in Es Longines and the company consequently changed its name to Longines to pay tribute to the location of the new factory.
3. Longines owned the record for the thinnest watch
This record has since been broken by several manufacturers, including Bvlgari with its Octo Finissimo, Piaget with its Altiplano Ultimate Concept, and later Richard Mille in 2022. But back in the 1970s, Swiss watch brands competed for making the thinnest watch. Longines took the top position in 1979 when it produced the Feuille D’or, translated to gold leaf, with a thickness of 1.98mm.
When it was launched, it was the first watch in the world to measure less than 2mm in thickness.
4. Longines is present in over 150 countries
In terms of actual watches produced, Longines is around the top amongst Swiss watch brands. Longines has a strong presence all around the world and can be found in more than 150 countries. This makes Longines one of the most global watch companies in the world. This just goes to show the sheer scale of the company and its strong presence in the market.
5. Longines has its very own museum
With such a long and rich history that Longines has, the company certainly has a lot to show up and present to the world. To do just that, Longines has opened up its very own museum that is dedicated to the brand. The museum naturally includes all things Longines, from historical objects to iconic and important watches, gadgets, and much more. To contribute to the brand’s story, there are also plenty of interesting memorabilia such as notes and records that tell intriguing stories about the brand.
The museum is situated in its main headquarters in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Here, the brand has put a wide selection of timepieces on display including other instruments and timing devices.
6. Albert Einstein owned two Longines watches
Longines has been owned by many important and influential individuals over the years. Still to this day, we can see celebrities and other famous people wearing Longines watches.
Albert Einstein was one of these people and he owned not one but two Longines timepieces.
The first Longines timepiece that Einstein owned was a tonneau-shaped 18kt yellow gold wristwatch engraved with the words “Prof. Albert Einstein, Los Angeles, Feb. 16, 1931.”. He was gifted this watch in 1931 by a rabbit. This watch was auctioned in 2008 for $596,000.
The other Longines timepiece that Einstein owned was a silver pocket watch. This watch is today found at the Historisches Museum in Bern, Switzerland due to its historical importance. Einstein originally gave this pocket watch to his eldest son, Hans Albert. And eventually, it was gifted to the museum.
7. Longines have been worn in James Bond movies
Whilst Rolex and Omega are the watch brands that are the most synonymous with Bond, the fact of the matter is that Longines watches have been worn in Bond movies. Not by James Bond himself but by other people in the movie. And not just once, either. Longines watches can be seen in Casino Royale, Skyfall, and Spectre.
A Longines Evidenca is seen on the wrist of Doctor hall who is the MI6 psychologist that tested Bond before letting him go back into duty again.
In Spectre, M, played by Ralph Fiennes wears a Longines Conquest Heritage. Moreover, a Longines Evidenza Chronograph is worn by Le Chiffre in Casino Royale whilst they are playing poker.
In the movie Skyfall, the assassin, played by Ola Rapace who Bond fights is wearing a Legend Diver with a black strap.
Worth pointing out is that Longines is owned by the Swatch group who owns Omega, so it’s not strange that Longines also found its way into the movie screen.
8. Longines has played an important role in the history of aviation
Longines has a close connection with the early history of aviation and actually played an important role for multiple prominent pilots.
Many watch brands highlight their relationship with aviation, but Longines is the brand that has the longest and most close history with aviation. In fact, Longines played an important practical role in developing modern aviation.
Longines created the Lindenbergh Hour Angle watch, named after the famous and legendary aviator Charles August Lindenberg. This man was the first person to expand aviation beyond the military. Lindenbergh found that pilots had a huge challenge navigating in the air and so he set out to solve this issue.
In doing so, he contacted Longines, a brand that was already very famous and respected at the time. Together with Longines’ watchmakers, they developed the Lindberg Hour Angle Watch. This watch introduced something extremely valuable to pilots and aviation, which was enabling pilots to calculate their exact location in the air using latitude and longitude inputs, something that was extremely difficult at the time. Due to the difficulty of navigating in-air, it caused some pilots to get lost, which happened even to the most skilled and experienced pilots. Prior to the creation of this Longines navigation tool, pilots used the sun and compass to try to find their location.
The inventing of this timepiece was an extremely valuable introduction to the aviation sector which helped lay the foundation for commercial airlines and for aviation outside of just the military.
9. Longines keeps detailed records of all watches ever manufactured
Longines keeps a very detailed record of all of the watches that it manufactures and has done so for centuries. This allows customers to get detailed information about their timepieces and their history. They can do so by requesting an extract from the archives from Longines.
10. Longines manufactures approximately 1.5 million watches a year
Its large production puts Longines amongst the top Swiss watch manufacturers in terms of production volume and one of the largest watch brands in the world.
The huge production output from Longines just proves the sheer size of the company and its enormous manufacturing capabilities. Rolex, for example, produces between 800,000 and 1,000,000 watches per year, but at the same time, the average price is considerably higher.
11. In 2019, Longines produced its 50 millionth watch
This means that Longines produced over fifty million watches in less than 200 years. With so many watches produced, it’s not surprising that the brand is so widely known around the world.
12. Longines has the oldest trademarks amongst watch brands in the world
Longines’ logo has evolved and been revised many times throughout the years, but the key motive of it has remained throughout all of these years. Longines has used its iconic winged hourglass logo since 1867 and is something that still remains to this day. Due to the long history of this logo, it has become an iconic trademark and a symbol of fine watchmaking throughout the world.
13. The first Longines wristwatch was the reference 13.33Z
Like all watch brands during the early 1880s, Longines exclusively made pocket watches. This was the primary way of telling the time for most people. But as you know, the pocket watch is today virtually dead and has been replaced by the wristwatch.
The first wristwatch that Longines created was the reference 13.33Z. This was a watch that Longines delivered to the military during the first world war. Wristwatches brought huge benefits to soldiers as they meant that they didn’t have to reach inside their pocket to tell the time but could instead glance at their wrist. After World War two ended, Longines started to focus more and more on wristwatches, making them better, and more suitable for everyday people.
After the second world war, Longines had come to establish itself as one of the most popular watchmakers in the world.
14. Longines has a room dedicated to its advertisements throughout the years
Longines has created a whole room dedicated to many of its different advertisements throughout the years. This is really a blast to the last of how the way of communicating to promote watches changed over the years and how Longines built its image.
In addition to advertisements, Longines also has testimonials from important and influential individuals like Audrey Hepburn as well as current brand ambassadors. The room is located inside the brand’s museum and can be experienced together with everything else that it has to offer.
15. Longines sponsors over 40 sporting events every year
Longines has a close relationship with various sports. This is perhaps particularly true for equestrianism.
In terms of sports, Longines is active in the following sports: horse racing, horse jumping, horse eventing, horse dressage, Alpine skiing, and commonwealth games. This strategy has worked well for Longines to build the brand and allows the company to be seen by the right people and in the right contexts.
16. Longines has been an official timekeeper of The Kentucky Derby since 2011
As mentioned, Longines is the sponsor of many sporting events. One of the most important events for the brand is The Kentucky Derby which is the longest-running event in the USA.
This is a huge event that attracts well over a hundred thousand visitors. As such, it is a perfect context to be seen and to get exposure considering the classy and elegant nature of the sport.
