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A HISTORY OF LONGINES WATCHES, FROM THE PAGES OF WATCHTIME MAGAZINE THE WORLD OF FINE WATCHES SPOTLIGHT www.watchtime.com LONGINES LONGINES

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A HISTORY OFLONGINES WATCHES, FROM THE PAGESOF WATCHTIMEMAGAZINE

THE WORLD OF F INE WATCHES

SPOTLIGHTwww.watchtime.com

LONGINESLONGINES

and under his own responsibility. Onthe morning of July 1, 1862, a newsign appeared on the house at 11Agassiz Street. It read: “AncienneMaison Auguste Agassiz, ErnestFrancillon, Successeur.”

THE HISTORY OF LONGINES

Pocket-watch (ca. 1840, with verge escapement), similar to the ones built in the comptoir of Agassiz & Cie.

Auguste Agassiz established a comptoir in 1832, thus laying the cornerstone forLongines

Ernest Francillon enlarged Longines duringthe second half of the 19th century

From Agassiz to FrancillonIt was probably late in the summer of1852 when Ernest Francillon arrivedin Saint-Imier to begin working forthe aforementioned watch comptoir.A nephew of Agassiz, Francillon hadbeen born in Lausanne on July 10,1834. He was expected to join hisfamily’s business, a profitable ven-ture trading in household and irongoods. To prepare for this, he hadlearned German in Stuttgart and hadstudied various aspects of bookkeep-ing and economics. But at somepoint, Agassiz’ calls for help becameso loud that Francillon’s father senthim to Saint-Imier, where he initiallyworked in the offices. He moved toMôtiers in Val-de-Travers in June1853, where he spent a year learningthe fine points of manufacturing andselling watches. He accepted leader-ship responsibilities at Agassiz & Cie.in 1854, working under the aegis ofdirector Edouard Savoye, to whomhe was related.

Francillon married a pastor’sdaughter named Ida Grosjean late inAugust 1857. The business in its previous form was dissolved in 1861.One year later, Francillon began directing the comptoir on his own

in the mountains. Messengers deliv-ered components that had been manu-factured in the Swiss or French Jura re-gion and then returned several weeksor months later to pick up and pay forthe finished articles. Comptoir work-ers also encased movements and as-sembled dials and hands. Afterwardsthe completed goods continued ontheir way to customers. On February25, 1833, Raiguel and Agassiz signed acontract that established a businesswhose name can be translated as“Raiguel Jeune & Co., Manufactureand Trade with Watch es.”

After Raiguel’s retirement, the re-maining partners ran the business fromNovember 1838 onward under thename “Agassiz & Compagnie.” Theexcellent reputation of this company’stimepieces extended far beyond theSwiss border. Its watches with cylinderescapements, of which several thou-sand were produced each year, wereeven known in the New World.

As specified in the contract, Agas-siz’ partner Florian Morel left the firmon December 31, 1846. Agassiz nowcontinued on his own, but after hiswife’s death, and with his own healthweakened, he moved to Lausanne atthe beginning of the 1850s and left theoperative management of his busi-ness in the hands of Edouard Savoye.Saint-Imier expressed its appreciationof Agassiz’ dedicated service to thecommunity by awarding him hon-orary citizenship.

Every era has its mission, the fulfillment of which leads to the advancement of humanity,

wrote Heinrich Heine in his Reise-bilder II (Additions to Travel Pictures)in 1831 or thereabouts. This same yearAuguste Agassiz, the son of the pastor

Louis Rodolphe Agassiz and his wifeRose, was probably already occupy-ing himself with the theme of watch-es. Auguste Agassiz had been born in1809. During the course of his voca-tional education, he worked for sometime in Neuchâtel, where his uncle ran

a bank. During a business trip in theJura region, Agassiz received an offerfrom Henri Raiguel, with whom hisuncle’s bank cultivated a very cordialbusiness relationship. Raiguel askedAgassiz to join him as a partner in hiscomptoir d’etablissage. The 23-year-old businessman didn’t wait for a sec-ond invitation. On August 14, 1832, hebecame an active participant in thewatch business known as “ComptoirRaiguel Jeune” in the village of Saint-Imier, in Switzerland’s Jura Region.

Comptoirs were small businessesthat acted as intermediaries betweenvarious cottage industrialists, most ofwhom still worked small farmsteads

Pioneering Spirit, Precision and Elegance

In 1832, Auguste Agassiz founded a comptoir that would develop into the Longines company we know today. From1852 to 1900, Ernest Francillon put the business on a path ofmodernization leading toward its present-day significance.

Text: Gisbert L. Brunner

Longines’ manufacturingsite at the end of the 19th

century

and dismayed by the subsequenttravel report, which offered him plen-ty of food for thought. While in theUSA, David had procured detailed information about the innovativemanufacturing methods used there.Thanks to these documents, he wasable to include many notes andsketches in his final report, of whichLongines published a facsimile edi-tion in 1992.

David’s concluding remarks laud-ed the outstanding quality of mer-chandise manufactured using me-chanical production methodologies.He praised the advantages of inter-changeable, identical, perfectly fittingcomponents, as well as the virtues ofwell-organized working processesand optimized quality-control meth-ods. He argued in favor of comfort-able temperatures in the productionfacilities, suggested that it would beworthwhile to pay greater attention toorderliness, and opined that it wouldbe beneficial to encourage employeesto have a stronger sense of loyalty,pride and identification with theiremployer.

A Process of RethinkingThanks to his visionary personality,Francillon had already implemented

protected trademark of this tradition-al manufacture.

A Journey to PhiladelphiaFrancillon’s never-say-die characterand strongly pioneering spirit weremanifest again in 1875. Well aware ofthe progress brought about by thelargely automated manufacturingmethods which were being practicedin the United States of America, he ini-tiated the creation of the “Société in-tercantonale des industries du Jura.”This specialized commission occupieditself with the quest for solutions to theproblematic situation posed by theAmerican competitors. The Sociétédispatched a delegation, headed byDavid, to the New World in 1876. Thiswas the year when the U.S. Congress,to celebrate the first centennial ofAmerican independence, organized anillustrious world exposition inPhiladelphia. When the Swiss dele-gates saw the downright revolution-ary developments on display in thewatch division of this exhibition on thewestern shore of the Atlantic Ocean,their breath was quite literally takenaway.

Despite his own progressive man-ufacturing methods, Francillon musthave been simultaneously impressed

Skillfully Overcoming ProblemsChâtelain was a practical man, but hispersonality included idiosyncrasiesthat occasionally precipitated dis-putes between him and the engineerJacques David. Despite their quarrels,the duo created an exemplary produc-tion facility that made efficient use ofthe available water power.

The ensuing years until 1873 wereanything but easy. Doubts about thefuture even sometimes plagued Agas-siz. But with their unshakeable faith ina successful outcome, Francillon andDavid persuaded Agassiz to continueto be a limited partner.

Customers were thoroughly satis-fied with the endurance, longevityand precision of the manufacture’sown calibers. Faith in the potential of contemporary technology grewstrong er.

The new watches succeeded ad-mirably as first-class, high-qualityprod ucts, but their success also at-tracted unscrupulous counterfeiters.Lon gines was obliged to defend itselfagainst poor-quality imitations. Oneweapon in this battle was, and still is,the winged hourglass that’s engraved,in various versions, on the company’smovements and cases as the legally

Turbulent ActivitiesThe young businessman didn’t hesi-tate to thoroughly reorganize his ven-ture, beginning with the personneland continuing through to the pro d-ucts and their prices. He concentratedon modern, high-quality watches.And the resultant commercial success

was the welcome fruit of his efforts.He was assisted by his uncle, whocontributed advice, constructive criti-cism and shares of stock in the com-pany valued at hundreds of thou-sands of Swiss francs.

The comptoir was soon deliveringmore than 20,000 timepieces eachyear. The lion’s share of these pocket-watches were “Lépines” with cylin-der escapements, but higher-qualitytimepieces with Swiss lever escape-ments gradually acquired greater im-portance. Francillon was also able tosell a remarkable number of petiteladies’ watches encasing 12-, 13- and14-ligne movements.

During this time, Francillon de-voted considerable attention to find-ing a way to eliminate the winding-key. Crown winding had been in exis-tence since 1820 or thereabouts, butFrancillon wanted to integrate thisprinciple into his inexpensive pocket-watches. By 1867, he had achievedthis goal. All his movements operatedentirely without keys. Francillon wasunpleasantly aware of the shortcom-ings of comptoir-style watchmaking,which included limited ongoing qual-ity control, delays in customer serv-ice, and the lack of a service-friendlyspare-parts stockpile.

Francillon wanted to replace themostly handmade individual time-pieces with precise, serially manufac-tured products. If the artisans and themachines all worked under one roof,he reasoned, this would surely resultin greater competency and signifi-cantly higher efficiency. It would also end the interminable waiting fordeliveries of movement-blanks andcomponents.

The Revolution Begins Francillon lengthily discussed his revo-lutionary plans with his uncle in the autumn of 1865. It became clear to bothmen that their new factory buildingwould have to be built beside a river or

stream so that the planned machinerycould be operated economically.

Fate smiled on the ambitious busi-nessman in March 1866, when he wasable to purchase two neighboringplots of land not far from Saint-Imier,on the shore of the Suze River. An en-tire year would pass before construc-tion work finally began in the springof 1867. The masons labored and thebrick walls of the new building rosesteadily. The permitted sluice wasbuilt above a waterfall and a 10-horse-power turbine began to turn in June1867. Its power would be the vitalforce for an innovative machine park,which was primarily designed by thewatchmaker Edouard Châtelain andthe engineer Jacques David of Saint-Quentin, who was the talented son ofan industrialist. Because there were somany tasks to be done, a typicalworkday lasted at least eleven hours.Gas lamps illuminated the factoryduring the evenings. And it wentwithout saying that the old-fashionedcomptoir operation continued to runsimultaneously.

The gears finally began turning toeveryone’s satisfaction at the end of1867. The first components becameavailable in March of the followingyear. Francillon summarized: “We’veachieved a lot, but much still remainsundone.” He commuted constantlybetween Saint-Imier and the “Lon -gines.” On the one hand, unfinishedcomptoir merchandise needed to becompleted and sold; on the otherhand, he needed to administrate thefactory. To assure that the costly ma-chinery wouldn’t grind to a halt dueto an inadequate supply of water, hearranged to have a second turbine in-stalled below a 600-cubic-meter reser-voir. A second building was erectedalong the extension of the first tur-bine. Francillon was ultimately able toentirely close the offices and atelierson Agassiz Street. He and 40 employ-ees settled into the opulent new edifice.

THE HISTORY OF LONGINES

Longines pocket-watch, Cal. 18B, from 1869

The engineer: Jacques David enlarged thefactory and became technical director

The etymology of the brand name: a map of Saint-Imier showing the “Longines” or “Long Meadow” in the south of the town

Dynamically into the 20th CenturyLongines’ top management was nowembodied in the persons of JacquesDavid, Baptiste Savoye and LouisGagnebin, on whose shoulders restedthe difficult task of maintaining thegrand legacy as Francillon wouldhave wished. The trio accepted thischallenge and mastered it with flyingcolors. Official accreditation at thechronometer tests administered by theNeuchâtel Observatory was forth-coming in 1905. Prizes for the accura-cy of Longines chronometers fol-lowed soon thereafter. These awardsproved that even Longines’ seriallymanufactured movement-blanks werecapable of achieving optimal preci-sion. The strategy of offering highlyprecise timepieces at affordable pricesproved to be exactly the right policy.Some 800 employees now produced122,000 watches annually at Lon gines;the corresponding volume a mere tenyears earlier had been only 39,000.Nevertheless, delivery delays still per-sisted because manufacturing capaci-ty had once again reached its limits. Torectify this situation, bricklayers weresummon ed in 1905 to erect on the leftbank of the river a new building, of

popular item was a new circular cal-iber with a lever escapement. A mere20 millimeters in diameter, it was anatural choice for use in ladies’ pen-dant watches, which were very popu-lar at this time. The same caliber laterfound its way onto the wrist.

When the Duke of Abruzzi organ-ized a polar expedition in 1899, his explorers relied on Longineschronometers to help calculate theirlongitude in the Far North. Despitethe extremely low temperatures, thesesilver deck watches performed verywell in the Arctic. The affirmative re-ports submitted by the duke’s explor-ers also served as welcome advertis-ing for Longines products. The worldexposition in Paris in 1900 brought ad-ditional positive results. When this ex-hibition ended, representatives of themanufacture took home to Saint-Imier“La Renommée,” the grand prize thathad been awarded to Longines for itsbest product. This prize furtherbrightened the gleam on Longines’image. Unfortunately, this triumphcame too late for Francillon, who diedof influenza at six o’-clock on theevening of April 3, 1900, soon afterhaving given his characteristicallymeticulous scrutiny to the collectionfor the Parisian exhibition.

pose of the business was to manufac-ture precise timepieces. Arnold Vuille-Roulet was entrusted with the task ofprecisely adjusting the chronometers.His best pieces were entered in competitions at the Neuchâtel Obser-vatory, where they achieved remark-ably good results.

Longines’ collection at this time included pocket-watches with gold,silver and nickel cases in ladies’ andmen’s sizes. Due to American importrestrictions, Longines offered onlywatch movements to its clients in theUSA, where these calibers were en-cased and sold as finished watches.Adequate supplies of well-fittingspare parts were now available in theUSA, and this was an important pre-condition for long-lasting success inthe New World, where the name “Wit-t nauer” was heard with increasing fre-quency. Longines grew speedily inthis part of the world, thanks in largemeasure to the efforts of the brothersAlbert and Louis Wittnauer. Thefounding of “A. Wittnauer & Co.” in1904 as a joint-stock company furtherleveraged the upswing.

Longines had become a force to bereckoned with, especially in the fieldof high-quality watches, where profitmargins are widest. One particularly

many of the ideas suggested inDavid’s report, but he nonethe-less took these recommendations toheart. After the death of Agassiz onFebruary 25, 1877, Fran cillon was ableto preserve the shareholder relation-ship with Agassiz’s heirs. A successfulcollection of watch es shown at theworld exposition in Paris in 1878earned the firm many medals, andplentiful orders followed. Business

was reviving in the USA, too. This sit-uation and the resulting supply-sidebottlenecks prompted Francillon toinitiate large-scale renovations and tobegin new construction work in thespring of 1879. He also improved theenergy supply for the machine park.The limited water power availablefrom the Suze River promptedLongines to install its first steam tur-bine and its requisite boilers. This, in

turn, enabled the company to estab-lish its own workshop for silver cas-es. And these cases brought the long-awaited independence from perenni-ally tardy case suppliers. The re-sponse was overwhelmingly positivewhen Lon gines joined other Swisswatchmaking companies to pres entits wares at a joint exhibition in Mel-bourne, Australia in 1880. Above all,the famous Lépine Caliber 18 L wasso immensely popular that, despiteexpanded production capacity, thefactory could scarcely satisfy the de-mand. This exemplary watch move-ment was likewise a bestselling itemin the USA. In addition, Lon gines1878 dared the launch of the newchronograph movement 20H, whichmark ed the firm’s first successfulventure into the realm of horologicalcomplications.

David deserves much of the cred-it for the company’s achievementsduring this period. Francillon re-warded David’s dedication by invit-ing him to join the company’s boardof directors. Francillon likewisereaped honors and accolades. Thecommunity of Saint-Imier made himan honorary citizen in 1881. He waslater also elected to the Swiss Nation-al Council.

A Wave of Success – With a Sad EndingIn 1883, the Swiss State Exhibition inZurich awarded one of its coveteddiplomas to Longines in recognitionof the manufacture’s trailblazing pro-duction methods, innovative dy-namism and meticulously well-madeproducts. Longines enjoyed similarsuccess in Antwerp two years later.The sun above the “Long Meadow”was shining brightly. Longines wasable to pay off Agassiz’ heirs in 1886,after which the business could betransformed from a joint-stock com-pany into a collective company ac-cording to Swiss law. The official pur-

THE HISTORY OF LONGINES

Longines sprouts wings: Ernest Francillon announced in 1874 that his watches were authentic only if they bore an engraved hourglass

Production at Longines in the late 19th century

THE HISTORY OF LONGINES

ceived that production had to be in-creased.

Meanwhile, Longines gained stillgreater prestige in the USA. The rea-son: the Naval Observatory in Wash-ington had tested two Longines deckwatches and awarded them first prizefor their excellent performance undersevere testing conditions.

Orders increased 400 percent in thefive years prior to the outbreak ofWorld War I. Longines’ staff in 1912numbered 1,167 onsite employees.Though Lon gines did not long remainwholly unaffected by the negativeconsequences of the war, the manu-facture continued to perform extraor-dinarily well despite the conflict. Firstprizes at observatory tests in Neuchâ-tel, Geneva, Washington and KewTeddington naturally exerted a stimu-

lating effect on sales. Equally welcomewere the awards and commendationsearned at the applied arts exhibition inParis in 1925, and at the world exhibi-tion in Philadelphia the followingyear.

Accuracy and reliability madeLongines watches ideal companionsfor pilots. The company’s timepiecesalso proved themselves on numerouspolar expeditions and scientific re-search journeys. Charles Lindberghshared with Longines the experienceshe had gained during his solotransatlantic flight from New York toParis in 1927. The aviator’s know-how, combined with the manufac-ture’s horological competence, led tothe creation in 1931 of the famousHour-Angle Watch, which would ul-timately exert a stronger influence onthe company’s history than any othertimepiece.

An Eventful EpochLongines’ executives had nothing tocomplain about in the early part of1929. When Commander Byrd andhis men carried Longines’ pocket-watches along on their spectacularexpedition to the South Pole, thesetimepieces blithely withstood the ex-treme cold of the Antarctic. And afterthe jury at the world exhibition inBarcelona awarded a grand prize tothe manufacture, auspicious oppor-tunities beckoned on the markets inthe Spanish-speaking nations ofSouth America.

But this clement economic climatechanged abruptly in October 1929,with the New York stock marketcrash. The resulting economic crisissoon spread to Europe, includingSwitzerland and its watchmaking industry. Stung but not disheartened,Longines worked hard to thoroughlymodernize existing movements andto develop new ones. Better machin-ery, improved tools and stricter control of the manufacturing went

years. Innovative self-winding move-ments and wristwatches with water-tight cases were designed and con-structed. A renovated machine parkmade it possible to electrically weldwatch cases, to cut threads withgreater precision, to true up the pro-file of the teeth on gears, and to pre-cisely roll pivots with the help oftungsten disks.

The Post-War YearsEven before the end of the SecondWorld War, Longines had already re-sumed its participation in chronome-ter competitions and tests. A steadystream of prizes kept the name“Longines” in everyone’s mind. Themanufacture won the first serial prizefor four wristwatch chronometers in1944. A second such prize followed in1946. The chronicles record an indi-vidual prize and another serial prizein 1948. These efforts were accompa-nied by exemplary activities in the

Plenty of medals: Longines’ watches won numerous awards at various exhibitions

which Longines remains proud today.The main complex was moved east-ward in 1906.

The company’s directors alwaysremained aware that Longines’ suc-cess rested on the pillars raised byFrancillon, and sought to maintainfamily involvement in the com pany.This goal was achieved with the helpof Adrien Francillon, the nephew ofLongines’ founder, who agreed to thecompany’s urgent requests andmoved to Saint-Imier to assume an ac-tive role on the executive team in 1907.

There was no shortage of work forthe younger Francillon and his col-leagues. The book of commissions wasbrimful, largely because railroad com-panies had placed large orders for the company’s newest wristwatches.These watches were so warmly re- A growth spurt: the factory underwent major expansions in 1910

hand in hand with a significant in-crease in quality.

The founding of Longines-Witt-nauer in New York in 1936 restoredthe old dynamism on the Americanmarket. And plenty of welcome pub-licity was forthcoming in 1938, whenthe pilot Howard R. Hughes flewaround the world in an airplane thathe had equipped with control devicesfrom Saint-Imier. Furthermore, Lon -gines created two special instrumentsexplicitly for Hughes’ globe-girdlingjourney: a chronometer with a stop-seconds function and the legendary“Siderograph.” Both devices facilitat-ed the task of determining the mo-mentary position of an aircraft. Avia-tion was thriving, so demand for theseuseful items was correspondinglyhigh.

Imagination and ForesightThe outbreak of World War II affectedmany of the approximately 1,200 peo-

ple on Longines’ staff. The hostilitiesalso demanded plenty of imaginationto assure the export of watches ordered by foreign customers. For example, Longines’ Czech representa-tive, who resided in Bah rain,arranged to receive completed watch-es hidden inside hollowed-out Bibles.When each Good Book arrived, theCzech agent would remove its con-cealed contents and insert gold intothe emptied cavity. He would then reseal the package and write “deliv-ery not accepted” and “return tosender” on the wrapper. Thanks tothis trick, the watches and the goldflowed undiscovered and unhinderedby customs agents.

By sending timepieces to exhibi-tions in Milan, Bratislava and Bu-dapest, Longines did everything inits power to continue cultivating itscontacts with former customers, whoreturned this favor by placing orders.Meanwhile, Longines was alreadyeagerly planning for the post-war

field of time measurement for sport-ing events.

These achieve ments led to an un-precedented boom during the post-war years. Explosive increases in de-mand made it possible to hire or rehiremany employees and to enlarge thefactory. New construction commencedin 1947. The previous year, Longineshad already begun an ambitious pro-gram to build rental housing for its em-ployees. A free shuttle bus commutedbetween Longines’ settlement and thefactory. Longines even paid the travelexpenses for employees who lived fur-ther from the plant.

Longines performed brilliantly interms of technology, too, displaying its

powerful innovative potential. The“Vibrograph,” for controlling the rateof watches, debuted in 1946. A directuser-to-user connection was estab-lished in 1950 so that the NeuchâtelObservatory could continually trans-mit the precise time to the factory. In1955 the manufacture established itsown laboratory, where it subjectedmetals, balance-springs, lubricantsand other functional parts to strict testsin accord with the company’s criteria.The stringency of these tests assuredthat nothing was left to chance.

Incidentally, Longines also reor-ganized its archive at this time. Sinceits earliest days, the company has pre-served nearly all of its manufacturing

ledgers, so the caliber, the type and theweight of the case of almost every sin-g le Longines timepiece can be identi-fied by referring to the fabricationnumbers listed in these comprehen-sive tomes.

Silently Vibrating QuartzesWhile mechanical timekeeping ad-vanced from one acme to another atLongines, specialists in other divi-sions worked feverishly on a technol-ogy that would decisively influencethe second half of the 20th century.The first transportable quartz clock,which Longines debuted in 1954, ex-ceeded its era’s requirements for pre-cision and reliability. Transistorswere still in their infancy at thistime, so Longines used vacuumtubes inside this timekeeping instru-ment, which measured 21.6 cubicdecimeters. The device relied on atemperature-stabilized quartz oscil-lator and could precisely depict timeto the nearest hundredth of a second.Eager to know exactly how accuratethe clock really was, Longines sub-mitted its spectacular apparatus tothe Neuchâtel Observatory. The re-sults of a meticulous rate test spokefor themselves: “After 24 hours inoperation, the deviation of rate wasequal to zero.”

The next task was to reduce di-mensions without compromisingperformance. But this feat necessari-ly demanded modern semiconductortechnology. The overall volume ofthe first “cold” instrument was 6.4cubic decimeters. Its clockworkweighed four kilograms. Longinespresented an electronic onboardchronometer with analogue time dis-play in 1964. The dimensions of itscase had shrunk to a sensational 70 x67 x 82 millimeters. Despite its smallsize, this quartz dwarf deviated byonly one second after a full year ofoperation. Just two years later, themanufacture again surprised horo-

Precision instruments: first-class rate certificates for Longines’ chronometers

An early wristwatch: Longines built thistimepiece for the wrist in 1901

piece had an overall height of a mere1.98 millimeters, and was available instores under the name “GoldenLeaf.” Then as now, it had and has noneed to hide itself.

Another quantum leap dates from1984, when the temperature-compen-sated quartz Caliber L 276 achieved arecord-breaking minimal deviationof just one minute in five years,which is equivalent to 0.02 secondper day. Its outstanding accuracyearned it the cognomen “V.H.P.,”which stands for “Very High Preci-sion.”

Finally, in 1992, Longines elimi-nated the need for the troublesomemanual task of adjusting the date dis-play at the end of a month with fewerthan 31 days. The top-of-the-line“Conquest Perpetual Calendar” con-tained a microchip programmed with

logical in siders with a record-break-ing quartz watch. It was smallenough to be conveniently carried ina trouser pocket. Of course, this wasonly the beginning of an evolution-ary process which would advance atan increasingly speedy pace, thanksto the uncommonly strong innova-tive energy on the “Long Meadow.”European journalists were more thana little astonished on August 20,1969, when Longines introduced“the first quartz wristwatch suitablefor serial production.” Its name: “Ul-tra-Quartz.” The clockwork em-ployed the latest microchips, and thetimepiece’s oscillator had a frequen-cy of 9,350 hertz. In retrospect, onewould have to say that 9,350 hertzwas “still” its frequency, because thisvalue would become obsolete only afew years later.

In 1972, when energy-consumingluminous diodes were still the stan-dard in digital displays, Longinespresented the world’s first quartzwristwatch with a modern liquidcrystal display (LCD) for the hours,minutes, seconds and date. The re-ward for these efforts was the confer-ral of the American “IR 100” innova-tion prize, which was awarded to theworld’s hundred best new technicalproducts. On January 12, 1979, Lon -gines’ insignia and its winged hour-glass proudly appeared on the dial ofwhat was then the world’s slimmestquartz wristwatch with an analoguetime display. This paper-thin time-

the length of each month. This cleverchip assured, for example, that thedate display automatically jumpedfrom February 28 to March 1 in ordi-nary years and also guaranteed thatFebruary 29 wouldn’t be forgotten inleap years.

The perfect trend-setting synthe-sis debuted in 1996 under the name“V.H.P. Perpetual Calendar Con-quest.” This wristwatch combinedthe ultra-precise, thermo-com pen -sated quartz movement with a perpetual electronic calendar. This intelligent watch could be reset easily for time zones and for sum-mer/winter times, and it could betriggered to indicate the month orthe leap-year cycle whenever need-ed. All these functions required nofewer than 14,700 transistors, butwith typical Longines ingenuity, they

THE HISTORY OF LONGINES

Navigational instrument: Howard Hughes used the “Siderograph”

Charles A. Lindbergh’s spectaculartransatlantic flight, which hadprompt ed the creation of the ingen-ious Lindbergh Hour-Angle Watch.For the anniversary, Longines createda replica of this timepiece in four-fifths its original size, which was pre-sented at Le Bourget in Paris on May21, 1987. Manufactured in a limitededition, the replica was equippedwith the same functions as the famedoriginal. After pivoting open thecase’s hinged back, connoisseurscould peer through its glass back and admire the very fine automaticCaliber 990. This spectacular caliberwas also used in the golden “ErnestFrancillon” collection, which Lon -gines issued in the mid 1990s to hon-or this pioneer in the brand’s history.For this elite collection, the caliberwas painstakingly skeletonized, thusearning it a new designation as L994.And in accordance with the motto ofnoblesse oblige, its rotor was craftedfrom 21-karat gold.

edition to just 990 pieces: 390 watcheswith yellow gold cases, 300 withwhite gold cases, and 300 with redgold cases. The comparatively fewcollectors who were able to get theirhands on one of these ticking synthe-ses of the past and the present can in-deed count themselves fortunate.Connoisseurs view these watches asavidly covetable collector’s items.Aficionados who missed the chancein 2001 can admire one of these wrist-watches in the Longines Museum orin the international watch museum inthe neighboring town of La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Incidentally: von Känel personallymonitors the distribution of Longines’other wristwatches to assure that eachmarket is justly served in the 130countries where Longines is currentlyrepresented.

A chance to purchase this perfectmovement in a “package” that’ssteep ed in history also arose in 1987,which was the 60th anniversary of

were pack ed into a single chip with asmall footprint of a mere 19.1 squaremillimeters.

Other “Conquest” models have anadditional liquid crystal displaywhich can be switched on or off bypressing the crown, thereby offering avariety of helpful additional func-tions. Not to be forgotten is the “Con-quest AHP,” which debuted in 1997.This was one of the first Swiss-madequartz wristwatches that made do en-tirely without a battery. At first glance,its clockwork seems to be similar to aself-winding mechanical movement.But closer scrutiny reveals that its ro-tor is connected to a micro-generatorwhich produces electrical energy: aningenious idea that effectively wedsecology and economy.

Peaceful CoexistenceThe decision to opt for either quartzor mechanical timekeeping is ulti-mately a question of one’s personalphilosophy of life. Aspects such asdesign, convenience, precision, ecol-

THE HISTORY OF LONGINES

ogy and/or price play importantroles. As one of the pioneers of mod-ern timekeeping, Longines has un-doubtedly mastered both technolo-gies, each of which has been appro-priately represented in the brand’sdiverse product portfolio for manydecades.

In the genre of self-winding me-chanical movements, too, Longineshas regularly given connoisseursplenty to talk about: for example, the13-ligne Caliber 22 AS, which debutedin 1945 with a rotor that wound themainspring in both directions of rota-tion. The ladies’ self-winding Caliber14.17, which appeared in 1956, wasbased on a shaped caliber.

The entirely new 290 caliber fam-ily was introduced as a veritable au-tomatic delicacy in 1958. Lon gineswatchmakers developed an ingen-ious power-reserve indicator for thisseries. The outstanding attributes ofthe 111/2-ligne diameter and 6 milli -meter tall Caliber 294 included a cen-tral disk and a rotating calibrated ring. This system assured especially

high legibility. The basic movementalready had a trend-setting feature: adirectly propelled and centrally axialseconds-hand. The central rotormoved above the entire movement,an unprecedented feature that in-creased significantly the efficiency ofthe automatic winding process. Therotor’s motions were polarized via acleverly designed ratchet-wheel alternator. If the watch was worn regularly, its mainspring wouldamass a reassuringly long-lastingpower reserve of approximately 45hours, and this lengthy running autonomy would be unmistakablydisplayed on the power-reserve indi-cator. Unlike the basic Caliber 290,Calibers 291 through 294, which werelikewise part of the “Conquest” line,also had distinctive power-reservedisplays at the “12.”

The special feature of the 340family of calibers, which waslaunched in 1960 and which lent tick-ing life to the classical “Flagship”line and to other Longines watches,consisted of an off-center, ball-borne,heavy metal rotor with a toothedrim. With help from a patented plan-etary-wheel alternator, it wound themainspring in both its directions ofrotation. The self-winding modulewas artfully integrated into themovement, thus minimizing theoverall constructive height.

The ultra-slim manufacture Cal-ibers 890 and 990 relied on double bar-rels. They and their derivatives arediscussed elsewhere at greater length.The first of the duo was launched in1975, followed in 1977 by the secondcaliber, which continues to prove itshigh capability to the present day. Thebest proof is an event which Waltervon Känel, Longines’ visionary presi-dent, proudly announced in thespring of 2001, when the traditionalbrand celebrated its 30,000,000th time-piece. This happy occasion called for a commensurate jubilee collection.Longines limited this commemorative

Rapid oscillator: the “Ultra-Chron” self-winding wristwatch debuted in 1967; its bal-ance completes 36,000 vibrations per hour

A firm hold on time: the first portable quartz clock (1954)

The special feature of the 340 familiy of calibers, ticking amongst others in the watches of the classical “Flagship” line, was an off-center rotor with a toothed rim

As thin as its name suggests: the GoldenLeaf (1979) is just 1.98 mm slim

Essence of the brand: the Longines Master Collection symbolizes the values of elegan-ce, sportiness and watchmaking tradition

ucts that carry the distinguishing features of mature mastery and whichhave therefore earned the right to bedescribed as genuine classics.

Longines prepared to honor the500th anniversary of Christopher Col umbus’ discovery of America by releasing the “1492 Christobal C” collection of solar compass watches in1991. From 1995 onward, internation-al sales were almost completely verti-calized, with Longines independentlyhan d ling distribution, sales, and on-site servicing. This important innova-tion also meant that Longines forth-with offered nothing but watches thathad been completely developed andmanufactured in Switzerland.

The “Longines DolceVita” collec-tion followed three years later. Thesewatches, which paid homage to Felli-ni’s unforgettable film, enjoyed un-paralleled success. And in 2003 “Honour and Glory” embodied an-other high point in the 125-year histo-ry of Lon gines’ timekeeping for ath-letic events. To coincide with thegrand opening of an informative andexciting exhibition devoted to sportstimekeeping, Lon gines offered a fasci-nating set of watches consisting of apractical wristwatch chronographand a rattrapante pocket-watch. Thelatter encased a 24-ligne movementthat traced its lineage back to the year1939. No explanation is needed forthe fact that the 125 sets which com-prised this edition instantly foundtheir buyers.

The Longines evidenza line de-buted in 2003, Longines LungoMarefollowed in 2004, and the LonginesMaster Collection was launch ed in2005: with each of these, and espe-cially with the third in the trio,Longines put itself on a route thatwill doubtlessly lead the brandtoward a successful future.

ing,” affirms von Känel, who has livedin the valley of Saint-Imier and thus inthe heart of the Swiss watchmaking re-gion since 1945. “The big Longinesbusiness already made an extremelystrong impression on me when I was alittle boy. Most of the people in ourneighborhood earn ed their livingthere. Somehow I was convinced thatI too would work for Longines some-day. Watchmaking shap ed our wholeregion in those days, and I secretlyknew that it would one day offer methe opportunity to discover the greatwide world.”

This wish came true sooner thanvon Känel had initially thought. Soonafter joining Longines, he traveled tothe USA, where he acquired relevantexperience at Lon gines-WittnauerWatch Co. Upon returning to Switzer-land, his career followed a steeply upward trajectory. And in 1988, vonKänel found himself standing atopthe uppermost rung of his career ladder. He and his dedicated team ofwatch lovers are now responsible fora diverse collection of timepieces encasing mechanical or electronicmovements. Each Lon gines watchembodies a long tradition that equal-ly satisfies today’s and tomorrow’sdemands and that’s characterized bypraiseworthy quality and an excel-lent cost-benefit ratio.

Masterful AchievementsNonstop The 1973 watch fair in Baselwas the venue for Longines’presentation of the “SergeManzon” collection, whichfeatured watch cases of solidsilver.

The Olympic Games in Mon-treal challenged Longines to createthe “Ultronic” wristwatch chrono-graph with tuning-fork resonator in1976, the same year that the manufac-ture accepted its fourth “Golden Rose”from Baden-Baden and the gold cup

intrepid and visionary reorganizerNicolas G. Hayek and several banks,this step led in 1984 to the foundingof SMH (Société Suisse de Micro-Électronique et d’Horlogerie SA),which is now the Swatch Group.

As a member of this group, Lon gines has continued to evolve during the past 23 years – exactly asFrancillon and his successors wouldhave wished. Von Känel, who wasborn in 1941, played an important – ormore likely a decisive – role in leadingthe brand along this glorious path in-to the 21st century. The holder of an ac-ademic diploma in business ad-minis-tration, he joined as a sales assistant ofthe Compagnie des Montres LonginesFrancillon SA in Saint-Imier in 1969.He was first promoted to the post ofdirector of the sales division and laterbecame director of the entire sales andmarketing division. He has shoul-dered the responsibilities of the presi-dency since 1988. Von Känel also be-came a member of the augmented di-rectorship of the Swatch Group in1990.

The exemplary successes thatLongines celebrated under his aegisare surely not mere coincidence. “I’vealways been fascinated by watch mak-

THE HISTORY OF LONGINES

The limited “Solar Ephemerid” wristwatchwas launched in 1989

Paths into the FutureAfter the death of Maurice Savoye in1965, shareholders for the first timedecided who would succeed him inthe brand’s directorship. They optedto make the Compagnie des MontresLongines Francillon SA into a mem-ber of the General Watch CompanyGWC, which was the distributingsubsidiary of the ASUAG watch concern.

In 1967, which marked the 100thanniversary of Francillon’s debut,Longines provided jobs for approxi-mately 1,000 people. About 150,000watches left the factory annually in thisdecade. The festivities in the buildingson the “Long Meadow” were crownedby the “Ultra-Chron” model, a self-winding wristwatch with a balancethat oscillated at a pace of 36,000 vibrations per hour. This extremely fastfrequency enabled Longines to achievea degree of precision which was near-ly equal to the accuracy of electronictimepieces. Two years later, the manu-facture accepted the Diamond Interna-tional Award, a prize that can justifi-ably be compared to an Oscar in theworld of movies.

Despite many remarkableachievements in the art of time meas-urement, Lon gines’ ship was towedin 1982 by its mother companyASUAG into a maelstrom of graveevents which capsized many other vessels in the Swiss watch mak-ing fleet. Only one sheet-anchor remained to save the ship in 1983: fusion with the SSIH (Société Suissede l’Industrie Horlogère SA). Themerger ensued under the name“ASUAG-SSIH.” With the help of the

This watch, with the Caliber L990, is part of the jubilee collection that celebrated Longines’ 30,000,000th timepiece in 2001

from an institution known as “Le BonGoût Français,” i.e. “The Good FrenchTaste.”

XL* 18, a new alloy made of cobalt,chrome and tungsten and traces ofcarbon, began to assert itself againstgold and silver in 1981. The alloy’s al-phanumeric appellation was given toan impressive generation of newwatches. And to top it all off, Longinesjoined the elite circle of Formula Oneracecars as partner of the renownedScuderia Ferrari.

Longines celebrated the 100th an-niversary of the winged hourglass in1989 with the launch of the “SolarEphemerid” wristwatch. This veryspecial and naturally also patented astronomical timepiece was releasedin a limited, individually numbered edition.

Starting in 1990, the extra-slim “LaGrande Classique de Longines” mod-els, with their pure case design, developed into inimitable representa-tives of the brand. These sleek wrist- watches, which are still manufacturedwith great success today, numberamong the first-rate exemplary prod-