Longines has been ticking for 183 years
MANILA, Philippines - And now it’s perfecting the elegant art of watch making
In an era when economies face unpredictable fluctuations, and new developments come at immense speeds, time proves to be the greatest resource. Some watch it slip by while others make the most out of the journey.
Longines has been counting the seconds of success for over 180 years, so it may come as a surprise for us clock-watchers that they only opened their first flagship store in the country very recently. “Now that we have a boutique, it will enable people to discover the world of Longines. These kinds of timepieces are of a different world, so I invite you to discover true value and real craftsmanship of a well-made timepiece,” affirmed its VP and head of international sales, Charles Villoz.
The Swiss-based Villoz, alongside Ivan and Emerson Yao of the Lucerne Group, retailers of the brand in the country, have formally opened Longines’ first luxury flagship store in the country which, coincidentally, is also Longines’ first mono-brand store in Asia. Marking this milestone for the watch brand is Longine’s Ambassador for Elegance, Taiwanese actor Eddie Peng, who elicited waves of adulation from a swarm of swooning lady fans.
Despite the fanfare, Villoz didn’t miss his opportunity to bring me up to date on the brand’s history and, at almost two centuries’ worth, it was everything but brief. Perhaps it’s a good thing that time was on our side.
The short hand
“He was an entrepreneur. He was just trying to make a living,” Villoz said of Longines’ founding father, Auguste Agassiz. Back in a time when the rest of Europe was all about explorations in the New World and the realms of new learning, the Swiss men from the “Watch Valley” of Jura were carefully engineering how chronographs could be carried around the world.
“There was simply not enough to make a living there since it’s very high up in the mountains, and the farmers can’t make much money because the ground wasn’t very fertile. That’s why they resorted to working on micro-mechanical pieces, and that’s how they started making the Jura mountain area the birthplace of watchmaking,” Villoz added.
In a hamlet in bucolic Saint-Imier in 1832, Auguste Agassiz founded what was to be the world’s oldest horology brand still existing in the world. Yet for Villoz, the brand’s longevity didn’t have anything to do with its founder’s business foresight. “I don’t think he had the vision that, one day, he would be in the Philippines, and that we would talk about him. He was not the best commercial person. He was more of a technical person so I honestly don’t think he thought of changing the industry of timepieces.”
And yet he did. Despite a lack of marketing acumen, Longines’ winged hourglass logo has been credited as the first watch icon in the market, leading the standard on how prestigious Swiss watch brands are now recognized. “We never found exactly the reason why our forefathers thought of an hourglass and wings logo. Definitely when you look at it, on a philosophical level, time is a subject you can never end. Graphically, it means, time flies, time goes by. It’s a lot of things. But I think that it just shows us how time can be beautiful,” Villoz added.
The mainspring
Since then, Longines has made it a mission to perfect the elegant art of watchmaking. Where other Swiss watch ateliers were reputed for complex workings, Longines simply maintained its sturdy, stark and sophisticated model of timekeeping. “It’s basically what Longines represents. Classy has a lot to do with elegance, you see. When you’re flamboyant, it has nothing to do with class,” Villoz said.
This no-nonsense approach to time and faultless performance probably led Longines to become the favored timepiece of aviators. “Switzerland really has no aviation history. We have some aviators but they’re not as famous as those from Britain, France, or in the US. The story for Longines and aviation started in the US, when Charles Lindbergh designed the Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch. He actually sketched the dial. You have to remember, in navigation, time is of the essence,” Villoz shared.
“I love that watch, I’ve had it for 25 years and I can still wear it,” the Longines VP added, noting it was the first Longines watch he purchased when he started with the company, not unlike the countless pilots who earned their wings with this iconic wristwatch.
Other than Longines’ tradition of clocking the hours of pilots and pioneers, the brand also built a solid standing in sports timekeeping. “We started to do sports timing for more than 100 years. In sports, you need time. We were manufacturers of fine timepieces, why wouldn’t we do it?” Villoz said.
Centuries before the advent of digital watches, Longines analogs are seen on the ringside of the most illustrious sporting events, from keeping watch of the Olympics 14 times since the Athens Games in 1896 to the Alpine World Cup since 1933, the Equestrian World Championships since 1952, standing as the official timekeeper of the LA Lakers between 1970 to 1984, and the French Open in 2007. “So, long story short, we’ve had a very long time in the timing department, and it’s another way of showing our expertise in manufacturing timepieces,” Villoz added.
The pendulum swing
Today, with our celebrity-obsessed culture of luxury, Longines has kept up with the times by banking on endorsers, not for their consumption pull, but for their inherent elegance. Alongside British cinematic powerhouse Kate Winslet and American TV heavyweight Simon Baker, Longines tapped Taiwanese actor and fast-rising Asian action star Eddie Peng as its most recent Ambassador of Elegance, perhaps a move poised for conquering the oriental market.
“Elegance is an attitude, that’s what I learned since I started working with Longines, and I’m still learning how to be an elegant person. It’s an attitude that is really about who you are, what you are, and if you’re comfortable inside and outside. It’s also maybe an attitude towards people. For my age right now, I’m learning a lot of stuff from more mature guys, and people around me. I learn to be more down to earth, easygoing, all with an elegant attitude,” Peng exclaimed, while discreetly flashing his favored Longines timepiece, the crisp, black-faced, two-toned Conquest Classic.
“A watch is something that represents your taste, maybe your life. That’s what I used to think. Before, I thought that you have to be the fastest, you have to be the best. But I found out the true meaning of elegance is not how fast you are, how great you are, but how you take the time fully and how you learn, every second in your life,” Peng explained.
Despite his immense popularity being a product of the digital age, Peng now subscribes to the quiet yet proficient workings of his analog timepiece, a trend that Villoz aims to see with the rest of the younger generation. “What I wish is that they will get to know what a traditional timepiece is, what Longines represents, and what a mechanical watch is. Perhaps for younger people, this is not the most important thing right now. But one day, it will be,” Villoz said.
“We will always look for something that is a bit more philosophical. Time ticking,” Villoz stated, referring to his own Longines Conquest Classic, a more pared-down version. “This ticks, and it ticks for almost forever. When a watchmaker gives a little kick in the balance wheel, it starts to tick. Can you imagine that this ticks for such a long time? It’s another dimension compared to electronics. Maybe connective watches are the future, but this, a good mechanical timepiece, is going to stay,” he added.
Now nearing two centuries of watchmaking, time continues to work to Longines’ advantage. It has established a foothold in the second largest growing economy in the world. “Everybody’s coping with time,” said, waxing philosophical. “Sometimes time dictates to you. Sometimes you try to manage it. The point is, everybody has a different way of looking at it, but everybody, I’m sure, is not always in command of time.” Yet, as our brief history of Longines proves, we may not be able to control it, but we can certainly keep it in style.
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The first Longines flagship store in the Philippines is now open at the second level of the SM Mega Fashion Mall.
