Longines is famous for making first class luxury watches. The company is from Saint-Imier Switzerland and it has been producing high quality precise watches since 1832. Today, Longines operates being part of the huge Swatch Group. The winded hourglass logo of Longines is among the most famous watch logos in the world and it’s the oldest watch logo ever registered for a watch making company. In Singapore, where you can find all the luxury products in the world, you can also find Longines watches of course. Let us see the history of Longines with its most famous watches and we will enlist you the places to find Longines Watches in Singapore.
Longines have been long specialised in making aviator watches, these special watches for pilots with helping functions for air navigation just like the chronograph. Not only was Longines well known for aviator watches, but also the director of Longines Watches was a friend of Lindbergh and after Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight, Longines together with Lindbergh has designed their first ever aviators watch according to the pilot’s assistance and enlisted needs. This famous model is produced today as well. Therefore, Longines has close relation with the sports and aviation world, it was Longines that hosted the first modern day Olympic Games and it was among the first to ever use automatic timekeeping for a sport event.
The founder of Longines Auguste Agassiz by the time of starting his company has set up the strategy to provide distant markets, especially the United States with his watches. The company at first had the name Agassiz and Compagnie only later were rechristened to Longines. The watchmaker at first had diverse watch parts delivered to them from different parts of the country, but always had the aim to create such a company where the whole process of watch making is under one roof. Initially the brand got its name “Longines” from the town where they have later set up the bigger factory of watch making. This way, the first watch to come out which was wholly produced and assembled by Longines was released in 1867. The invention of Longines factory is the movement part called winding crown, which ever since has been a key part of modern day wristwatches. Longines from then on went on its way to become one of the most famous luxury watchmakers of Switzerland. The next breakthrough for the company came in the seventies when Longines was the first watchmaker in the world to use an LCD display in its watch. The world record of Longines – to make the world’s thinnest watch “was officialised in 1980. This watch is called Feuille d’Or and it had a thickness of only 1.98 millimetres. The Conquest VHP (Very High Calibre) watch of Longines Watches introduced a new aspect of precision in watch making. Famous releases of Longines Watches include the Heritage, Flagship, La Grande Classique, Dolce Vita, Evidenza, Chronograph the Longines Master and the Longines Automatic.
From the long history of watches, Longines is one of the oldest witnesses of the journey of the watch. The company was founded in 1832 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland by Auguste Agassiz. Its logo, the winged hourglass, is the oldest registered for a watchmaker. The Compagnie des Montres Longines Francillon S.A. is among the world’s leading watch companies. The company evolved from a comptoir into a full-fledged manufacturing operation, now the brand is the part of the Swatch Group. The company began when Auguste Agassiz and his brother joined a trader of watch parts, and in 1833 they named the company Comptoir Raiguel Jeue & Cie. In 1847, Agassiz renamed the company into Agassiz & Compagnie. During the 1850, his nephew, Ernest Francillon took over the business and he focused in increasing and improving the production standard of watch designs. In 1866, Francillon built a factory to gather entire production under one roof in an area known as Les Longines (meaning “the long meadows”) on the right bank of the River Suze in the Saint-Imier valley.
With such a long time that the company experienced, the quality, style, and the existence of their products is out of questions. Their quality of products and their marketing strategy was remarkable that in 1911, they have already employed over 1,100 people and sold their timepieces worldwide. On July 19, 1880, the Longines brand and logo were registered at the Swiss Federal Office of Intellectual Property. The Winged Hourglass symbol became both as a mark of quality and its defense against counterfeiting. The history of the company cannot be separated from their existence on many sport competitions. They became one of the oldest suppliers of many sport competitions such as baseball, basketball, equestrian sports, horse racing, gymnastics, Formula One racing, skiing, tennis, Tour de France, and became the official timers of several Olympic Games from time to time. Over the years, the brand has proven their existence in the watch making world.
At the international Barcelona Exhibition in 1929, the brand was given the title of “leading prize winner” because of so many innovations that they made. They base on the signature timeless elegance of its products with the aesthetic heritage which is not only up to date but also balanced with skilled work to produce a watch with refinement and classical designs. The company always follows the development of the trends and technology to increase their quality, but still respecting the values that has been upheld for a long time ago which are based on four based pillars of its collections which are Elegance, Watchmaking Tradition, Sport, and Heritage. Elegance as their fundamental value, remains in all their activity and also their products all over the world. The elegance of their products is represented by some brand ambassadors such as Kate Winslet, Aishwarya Ray Bachchan, Chi Ling Lin, Aaron Kwok Fu Shing, and Ingeborga Dapkunaite to promote the elegance value of their products. The elegance collections can be seen in the Longines PrimaLuna, the Longines DolceVita, and the La Grande Classique de Longines collections. The ambitions of the brand creators are to be aware of trends, to risk technical and aesthetic innovation, and to achieve excellent quality.
The Longines Master collection is the proof of the aesthetic expertise. The Longines Evidenza collections were inspired by the Art Deco movement and Longines Saint-Imer collections are made as a tribute to the origin place of the brand. The brand has a long history with sports; the Longines Sport Collections are the tribute of their journey with sports. The Conquest and HydroConquest lines represent the searching of excellence with elegance. In the Heritage collections you can find the Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch, the Longines Weems Second-Setting Watch, and the Longines Twenty-Four Hours.
Longines is celebrating its 180th anniversary in 2012. Now, it has more than 130 outlets all over the world. One of their target marketplaces is Singapore; you can find one national distributor, three flagship stores, and more than 20 retailers of the brand in Singapore. You can find the national distributor in The Swatch Group in Alexandra Terrace. Their flagship stores are in Galleria Scotts Walk, Marina Bay Sands, and Marina Square. The retailers can be found in Lucky Plaza, Wisma Atria, ION, Vivo City, Paragon, Changi International Airport, and many more.
Longines has an established circle of fans also in Singapore. The city is world famous for its shopping possibilities so its no wonder that it’s the South East Asian land of luxury. The Singapore retailers of Longines are the All Watches Stores, the Cortina Watches Stores and the Watches of Switzerland (at Centrepoint and Paragon shopping malls) among some other smaller retailers. Longines Watches continuously call the attention of its customers to buy only from authorised retailers.