Longines Watches

Founded in 1832, the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer Longines has long been specialising in sports timing and was well-known for its remarkable pilot watches. The brand has built a strong reputation in the industry and is highly admired by sports watch lovers for over 180 years. 

The legend of the Longines began in the town of Saint-Imier, Switzerland in 1832. The company was founded by the businessman Auguste Agassiz and his two partners, Henri Raiguel and Florian Morel. 

In the initial stage of this Swiss luxury watchmaker, the company was named Raiguel Jeune & Cie. It gave birth to the renowned Longines brand later. Utilising the founder's business connections in America, the company had soon stood a solid place in the market. The Longines started to gain high popularity across the world.

Over 10 years passed, Raiguel and Morel retired and left the company over to Auguste Agassiz. Later in 1850, Agassiz was also forced to take early retirement due to his poor health conditions. He stepped back from the management of the company and kept the name as a partner until his death in 1877. In 1852, which was two years after Agassiz quited, Agassiz’s nephew Ernest Francillon became the CEO of the Longines company. He had brought in tremendous changes and innovations and led the brand to further success.

In 1867, the company was renamed Longines, as we are now familiar with. The name was inspired from the long meadows of Les Longines, located in the south of Saint Imier. The place was where Francillon purchased land in 1866.

In the initial days of Swiss watchmaking, a typical watch would house a typical movement that should be assisted with cylindrical escapements that were wound with keys. However, in 1867, Ernest Francillon succeeded in coming up with a new mechanism, against the regular key-wound mechanism, that the watch could be wound through the crown.It was considered as one of the most revolutionary inventions of the history of horology. 

In the same year in 1867, to handle further business pursuit and reinforce its technical development, Francillon also brought in Jaques David to the company. Jaques David was responsible for the operation in setting up of the new factory which included purchasing and arranging the new equipment and the mechanical systems. Since then Longines has grown rapidly in a short span of time and released numerous iconic models with outstanding features and capabilities.

Every Longines watch is well crafted with classic and elegant designs and technical advancements for high performance. The Longines watch family consists of various renowned collections including the Longines Legend Diver, Longines HydroConquest, Longines Conquest, Longines Master Collection, Longines Heritage, Longines Flagship and more. Let's take a look at some of its popular models:

Longines Master Collection

Debuted in 2005, the Longines Master Collection was released to demonstrate the heritage and long-standing expertise of Longines in automatic mechanical movements.

The Master Collection is an all-mechanical lineup of Longines watches. They are all equipped with self-winding movements. These watches range from standard models with simple designs to extremely complicated timepieces. Some models feature sophisticated complications, for example moon phase indicators, column wheel chronographs and date displays. Even though they are well built with high quality materials and movements, the Longines Master models are surprisingly affordable.

Longines Legend Diver

The Longines Legend Diver was first released in 2007 under the umbrella of the Heritage Collection. Also known as the “LLD,” it was meant to pay tribute to the original Longines diver watch Reference 7042 of the 1960s. 

In the 1950s, Longine began to enter the market of dive watches. Then, in 1960, the company released its famous Longines Reference 7042, following up the hot wave in the market since the release of the Nautilus Skin Diver. The Longines 7042 had immediately become a popular dive watch for the Longines brand and ultimately became the inspiration for the later Longines Legend Diver lineup.

The first Legend Diver reference is a 42 mm stainless steel watch and has an engraving on the case back with two hatched crowns. Since the first release of the Legend Diver in 2007, the Longines brand has introduced several updated editions of the watch including a reissued edition in 2009 and the latest 10th Anniversary edition in 2017. 

The Longines Reference 7042 and the first Legend Diver did not have a date complication, but this feature has been added in the newer editions of the Legend Diver at the 3 o’clock position on the dial. Some of the Longines watch lovers preferred the ones with no date display while some supported the change. The 2007 Legend Diver is usually referred to as the “Longines Legend Diver No Date”. It is very popular in the secondary market among vintage watch enthusiasts. 

Longines HydroConquest

The Hydroconquest was first introduced by Longines in 2007 as a part of a larger rollout of the Sports Watch Collection. In contrast to its vintage-style divers including the Legend Diver and Skin Diver, the collection has offered a handful of advanced technical models as the Longines modern dive watch collection. 

This contemporary Longines dive watch is not only affordable but also has a strong build with practical features. The first HydroConquest watch is equipped with a 41mm stainless steel case with a sapphire crystal which is applied with multiple layers of anti-reflective coating. This watch is water resistant up to 300 meters. 

Currently, the HydroConquest watch is available in options of different size and dial colors including sunburst black, grey, green and blue.

Longines Conquest

First launched in 1954, Longines Conquest is the Longines’ mainstay collection that offers sporty yet elegant watches. The Longines Conquest lineup houses various popular models, including the Longines Conquest, the Longines Conquest Heritage, the Longines Conquest Classic and more. 

Within the Longines Conquest collection which is known for its sporty watches, the Longines Conquest Classic are the unique ones that house a traditional mechanical movement. These Longines sports watches are notable due to their affordability as well as their exceptional performance and durability. These Longines watches make a perfect companion for any occasion and style. 

Thus add these perfectly built Longines men's watches to your collection and let it embrace your wrists and enhance your style and personality.