Longines and Formula 1

Through its sports timing devices, Longines was actively involved in the early days of motor sports. The manufacturer in Saint-Imier had been adapting equipment to the requirements of racing circuits from the 1920s onwards, and provided the timekeeping equipment for the Brazil Grand Prix in 1933. By handling the timing for the first of the Grand Prix events in the history of Formula 1, in the mid 20th century, Longines witnessed and contributed to the emergence of this discipline. The brand also provided timekeeping services for other competitions in the field of motor sports. For example, during the 1970s Longines provided the equipment for qualifying rallies for the World Championship (Corsica, England, Germany, Sweden, Mille Lacs, Ivory Coast, Portugal, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Cyprus, San Remo, Tulip, Alps, Acropolos, Zakopane Poland), as well as continuing to provide timekeeping equipment for the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, a task which it carried out from 1960 to 1991.

At the end of the 1970s, Longines, with the assistance of Olivetti, developed an innovative timing process which was tested for the first time at the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix at Long Beach, in 1980. By dint of intensive study of the field of automated timekeeping, Longines created a system which operated by radio waves. By equipping each vehicle in a race with a small transmitter fixed to the front of the vehicle, the timekeeper was able – thanks to the finishing line being covered with a metallic paper strip acting as a receiving antenna – to determine the time clocked by each car. When a vehicle crossed the finishing line, the clock emitted a signal which was identified by a decoder and then directed to a computer and the corresponding timing equipment. The computer, which was supplied by Olivetti, was then able to retrieve the name, nationality and model of car, the net time for each car (lap by lap), the ranking, the average speed, the number of laps and even the fastest lap completed. This information could also be circulated via a closed circuit television network available to manufacturers and racing teams. This timekeeping process required no human intervention and consequently was not open to dispute. The information provided was also made available to the press and the television channels, and constituted an indispensable working tool for commentators and analysts.

Alongside its involvement with chronometry for automobile and mechanical sports, a field whose emergence had been supported by the Saint-Imier company with its chronometry systems, in 1980 Longines signed a partnership agreement with Ferrari , thus becoming the official timekeeper for the Italian Formula 1 racing team. The nature of the Longines-Ferrari collaboration primarily comprised the development and supply of control and timekeeping equipment for the Italian team. It was on account of the technical expertise of the Saint-Imier company that the collaboration was set up, but Longines was also to provide the staff for all the races in which Ferrari was participating. In addition, Longines was given the task of fully equipping the team’s private circuit at Fiorano, and in return the brand was permitted to use the trackside billboards for advertising. Secondly, a commercial collaboration was set up on the basis of the company’s underlying technical know how. Ferrari granted Longines rights to the use of the image and the brand for advertising purposes. Alongside the technical partnership set up with Ferrari in 1980, Longines became official timekeeper for all the Formula 1 Grand Prix races between 1982 and 1992, while at the same time continuing its cooperation with the Italian team. In 1981, Longines also set up a partnership with the Renault stable, which also required specialised technical assistance in the field of timekeeping.