[Brand Introduction] Longines
Posted by WATANABETAIGA
About Longines
Longines is a long-established company with a particularly old history even in Switzerland, the world's watchmaking capital.
It reached its heyday from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, and was one of the first Swiss watch manufacturers to develop the American market and succeed in mass production using modern manufacturing methods.
By around 1910, the company had grown to over 1,100 employees, and was one of the leading manufacturers of Swiss watches, with railway stations and roads built for Longines.
It was one of the manufacturers that produced technically high-quality chronograph calipers in-house.
It has won a total of 10 grand prix and 28 gold medals at past World's Fairs, earning it an outstanding reputation as the brand with the most awards.
the beginning
Longines' origins date back to 1832, when Auguste Agassiz founded the watch manufacturing and sales company Agassiz & Co.
Auguste Agassi's older brother was Louis Agassi, a famous American naturalist, and through these American relatives, he quickly achieved international success in the American market.
Auguste Agassiz's nephew, Ernest Francillon, took over the management of Agassiz & Co. and moved its base to Saint-Imier, Switzerland in 1852.
An economist, he expanded his cottage industry and in 1867 established his own factory in Saint-Imier on land known as ``Es Longines'' (Long Fields), which he named his company.
The pocket watch exhibited at the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in the same year won a bronze medal.
To prevent counterfeiters seeking to capitalize on Longines' reputation, models from 1867 onwards feature the word LONGINES on the dial and the winged hourglass logo engraved on the movement.
The logo still in use today was registered as a trademark in 1889, making it the oldest logo registered with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
heyday
In 1876, Jacques David, the technical director of Longines, visited the mechanized integrated watch factory of American watch manufacturer Waltham and was shocked.
At the time, Switzerland relied on a division of labor called the ``établisage method,'' which involved a lot of manual labor, and gradually began to lose ground to American manufacturers in terms of quality and price.
Longines was one of the first Swiss watchmakers to switch to machine production.
Longines has proven its reliability by providing stopwatches for the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, and by providing watches for an adventure trip to the North Pole in 1899.
Moreover, it has won awards at various astronomical observatory competitions, as well as a total of 10 grand prix and 28 gold medals at successive world expositions, solidifying its name as a first-class brand.
In the age of wristwatches, chronographs with flyback mechanisms and the Hour Angle Watch, a pilot's watch completed in 1931 at the request of Lindbergh, who made a successful transatlantic flight, gained tremendous support, and the Longines brand became popular. became widely known around the world.
the current
Even in the age of wristwatches, Longines boasted top-class name recognition and popularity, but its business rapidly deteriorated due to the quartz shock that occurred in the 1980s.
While the Swiss watch industry was hit hard and bankruptcies occurred one after another, Longines managed to avoid bankruptcy, but it significantly downsized and survived as a member of the Swatch Group.
Longines developed the world's first quartz watch in 1954, 15 years before Japan's Seiko released a quartz watch, and set a new record at the Neuchâtel Observatory's institutional competition.
It's ironic that that quartz watch drove Longines into a corner.
Longines' position within the Swatch Group is as a luxury watch with a relatively reasonable price range, and most of its watches are equipped with ETA movements.
It may have lost its former luster, but its glorious history and brand power remain intact.
summary
From the era of pocket watches to the era of wristwatches, Longines has produced a wide variety of watches in each era, from popular models to luxury models, practical watches to jeweled watches, and Longines alone is a brand where you can enjoy a wide range of collections.
In particular, Longines watches from the era of pocket watches are well-made and highly reliable, making them a recommended manufacturer as the first watch in your collection.
