Longines Watches

Whether you’re a seasoned watch collector or a corporate professional seeking to make a statement, Longines offers the perfect blend of sophistication and functionality to elevate your wrist game.

A Short History of Longines Watches

As the 5th most recognizable Swiss watch brand in the world, Longines stands apart from its fellow timekeeping competitors as the oldest registered watch brand in history. Blazing its own path, Longine watches are among the more affordable luxury timepieces, offering excellent quality, a rich pedigree and a unique style at an ideal value. Paired with a dramatic flair for adventure, it’s easy to understand Longines’ popularity, despite the twists and turns in the Brand’s history.

Founded in 1832 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, Longines began as Raiguel Jeune & Cie under Swiss watchmaker August Agassiz and his partners. Several years into development, Agassiz brought in his nephew, Earnest Francillon, who proceeded to revolutionize the company with his many ground breaking innovations, one such being redirecting their production towards crown-wound pocket watches, as opposed to the popular key-wound variation.

Francillion went on to establish the first company factory in 1867, located in an area known as “long meadows” or “Les Longines”.
Spurred on by Longines’ growth, Fracillion facilitated a visit to the 1876 world’s fair in Philadelphia to gather new ideas from the Americas. This expedition yielded a now revered 108 page report regarding American watch production , one of the most significant documents in watchmaking history and said to be the driving force of industrialized watch craftsmanship.

Longines’ continued growth and innovation saw no end. Its explosive success in the world of timekeeping as a result of their stopwatch technology ensured the brand’s position as the official timekeeper for a variety of industries and competitions at the championship level, worldwide, including; Formula One, Archery, Artistic Gymnastics, Alpine Skiing and ShowJumping. All of this simultaneously propelled Longines into specialized fields of development and research.

Their technological leaps regarding cartographical charting and exploration are of particular note. Working in collaboration with exceptional voyagers such as Charles A. Lindbergh- pilot of the famous non-stop solo flight over the Antlantic- in 1931, Longines and Lindberg developed the Lindberg Hour Angle watch, when – when used with a sextant and almanac – could help calculate a navigator’s exact geographical location.

Amelia Earhart –the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928 – wore a Longines single-button chronograph with two auxiliary dials, relying on the superior timekeeping during her flight.

Other notable wearers of Longines include: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, Kate Winslet, and Albert Einstein.

Einstein owned two Longines, one 1943 silver pocket watch and one 1929 gold wristwatch. The pocketwatch now lives at the Bern Historical Museum in Switzerland, and his wristwatch was sold at auction for $596,000, making in the most expensive Longines to ever be auctioned.