The Longines Watches story starts back in 1832 when Auguste Agassiz opened a small
workshop in St. Imier. In 1866, Ernest Francillon, Auguste’s nephew, constructed a
factory near St. Imier, and brought all of the watchmaking skills under one roof. This was
the first Longines "factory", and where the manufacture of the first Longines
movement took place.This product broke with traditional watchmaking methods having a
"lever" movement, which were wound, and the time set by means of the crown. The
Longines 
Watches trademark was first registered in May of 1889, and depicted the winged
hourglass which has remained a powerful image of Longines ever since.
In 1899 Longines was involved with an expedition to the North Pole. Louis Amédée de Savoie took five navigation chronometers designed to withstand the extreme temperatures of the Arctic. It was the introduction of automatic timing at the Federal Gymnastics at Basel in 1912 that proved to be the most important event in this development of Longines association with sports. With the ever-increasing demand for accurate instruments to record sporting events Longines created a pocket chronograph, which allowed 1/10th and 1/100th intervals to be recorded. Since 1952, Longines has been responsible for the timing of nearly all of the Olympic Games, both Summer and Winter. In 1990 Longines was appointed the official timekeeper for the World Grand Prix Motorcycle Championships, and in 1991 Longines timed the World Alpine Ski Championships in Saalbach. From 1997 onwards Longines is the official timekeeper for all events in gymnastics competitions. Longines Watches and New TechnologyTechnical and aesthetic demands persuaded watchmakers at Longines to create the first chronometer wristwatch, the caliber L 13.33, in 1910. It had center second hands, a 30-minute counter and the unusual feature of a chronograph push-piece integrated into the crown. Longines was honored with the award of the IR 100, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for technology in the United States, for the creation of a watch with a liquid crystal display, named the Longines LCD. In 1996 Longines reached new boundaries with the launch of the conquest VHP Perpetual Calendar. It combines a calendar that needs no adjustment for more than a century with a Very High Precision (VHP) of 10 seconds a year, 20 times more precise than a conventional watch. |