The exceptional horological expertise developed over the years by Longines’ watchmakers and designers proceeds from a lengthy process of trial and error that ultimately enabled them to dominate the technical measurement of time. As it evolved from a “comptoir” to a full-fledged manufacturing operation, the company wedded its production to the demanding aesthetic standards that, today still, are its corporate hallmark.

In 1832, Auguste Agassiz entered the world of time by joining forces with an existing “comptoir” in the hamlet of Saint-Imier, soon taking over the business which he named “Agassiz & Compagnie”. At the time, the venture was run on the then-prevailing cottage-industry system, based on piecework by people making or processing watch parts in their own homes for the account of a jobber who delivered the blanks, or rough parts, and picked up and paid for the finished ones.

The company soon found ways to market its timepieces in distant markets, not least in the Americas. During the 1850s, Agassiz’s nephew Ernest Francillon took over the business from his ailing uncle, focussing on increasing and improving the production of standard watch designs. In 1862 he renamed the venture “Ancienne Maison Auguste Agassiz, Ernest Francillon, successeur” by adding his own name to his uncle’s, acknowledging the latter’s pioneering role. As he took over day-to-day management, Francillon looked for ways of improving and streamlining the production of his timepieces, then parcelled out to a number of different sites. His idea was to gather everything under one roof, in keeping with his vision of a factory where mechanical manufacturing and assembly methods would enable him to make and finish watches in one integrated process. In this perspective, Francillon purchased two adjoining plots of land at a place locally known as Les Longines on the right bank of the River Suze that flows in the Saint-Imier valley.

By 1867, Francillon had convinced some of his pieceworkers to transfer their activities to his newly built factory and hired a young kinsman of his, the engineer Jacques David, to help him devise the tools and machines which he needed to improve the manufacturing processes. Despite various setbacks, the Longines factory’s prosperous growth vindicated Francillon’s initial bold vision. Mechanisation of the production processes was successfully implemented thanks to Jacques David’s talent at conceiving and building all sorts of machines that seconded watchmakers in their tasks and improved the quality of their work. A crack engineer convinced of the merit of mechanical production, David travelled to the Philadelphia Universal Exhibition of 1876 and returned to write a report that triggered a wide-ranging debate within the Swiss watch industry of his day. From the 1870s on, Longines’ industrial options proved judicious and the company grew steadily until the first third of the 20th century. The buildings themselves regularly had to be adapted to the needs of a flourishing enterprise which, by 1911, employed over 1,100 people and sold its timepieces worldwide.

The Winged Hourglass, a symbol of horological innovation and expertise

Over the years, the company’s various technical research projects earned so much acclaim abroad that Longines could claim the title of “leading prizewinner” at international exhibitions up to the Barcelona Exhibition of 1929. It garnered no fewer than 10 Grand Prix (Antwerp 1885, Paris 1889, Brussels 1897, Paris 1900, Milan 1906, Bern 1914, Genoa 1914, Paris 1925, Philadelphia 1926 and Barcelona 1929). In 1969, Longines’ corporate tradition of technical innovation yielded the first cybernetic quartz electronic wristwatch ever designed by a watch manufacturer’s in-house research facilities.

Yet Longines’ innovative spirit extended far beyond horological technology. Owner of the oldest and, to this day, unchanged brand name registered at what is now the World Intellectual Property Organization, the company had by 1867 already adopted its Winged Hourglass symbol both as a mark of quality and as a defense against the counterfeiting its timepieces increasingly fell prey to.

For generations now, Longines’ reputation, prestige and confirmed quality have attracted a growing number of world personalities – heads of state and royal princesses, movie stars and reputed artists, leading sports figures and many other distinguished names have joined the long list of men and women who have placed their trust in the brand with the Winged Hourglass.