Longines's Profile
Serving Precision, Elegance and Sports since 1832
Longines has been based at St Imier, Switzerland, since 1832. Its watchmaking expertise, built up over 175 years, reflects a strong devotion to tradition, elegance and the sporting world: it has generations of experience as the official timekeeper at world championships and as a partner of international sports federations. Longines is a member of The Swatch Group S.A., the world’s leading manufacturer of watches and associated products. With an excellent reputation for creating refined timepieces, the brand, whose emblem is the winged hourglass, is now established in more than 130 countries.
The technical research carried out at Longines was recognized by many awards and distinctions. In fact, the brand with the winged hourglass was named “Leading Prize Winner” at several international exhibitions, right up until the Barcelona Exhibition of 1929, and won no fewer than 10 Grands Prix. The winged hourglass logo together with the “Longines” name form the oldest brand symbols still in use today and are registered with the World Intellectual Property Organisation. They have remained unchanged since 1867, when they were introduced as a sign of quality to combat the growing number of counterfeits trying to benefit from the excellent reputation of Longines products.
Thanks to the expertise that Longines developed in-house, the company established a special relationship with the world of sport. It invented several devices for the precise timing of sporting events, such as the “broken wire” automatic timing system used at the Swiss Federal Gymnastics meeting in 1912, the Photogines, the first mechanism to link timing with a photo finish, in 1952, and the Contifort in 1960, which was the first system to combine timing with a moving image. These inventions enabled Longines to provide the timing for a large number of world-class events and secured its place in the annals of sport. Its supreme mastery of highly demanding technology encouraged the company to propose its timing systems to the world of Formula 1, and a prestigious partnership developed with the famous Italian car company, Ferrari.
Building on this long association with sport, today the company is closely involved with equestrianism, gymnastics, short-track speed skating, archery, tennis and skiing. All of these sports demonstrate the brand’s core values of precision and elegance.
Longines contributes its timing expertise in these disciplines at many top-level international events. It is the official timekeeper for major international equestrian competitions, as well as for the famous race at Royal Ascot in England. Longines also times the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships and the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, two competitions that particularly express the brand’s unyielding passion for elegance. The company is also the official timekeeper for the French Tennis Championships at Roland Garros, one of the world’s four Grand Slam tournaments. Longines is also present on the “White Circus”, timing numerous Alpine ski events in various places including Levi (Finland), Aspen and Beaver Creek (USA), Val Gardena, Bormio, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Tarvisio and Sestrière (Italy), Adelboden and Wengen (Switzerland), Maribor and Kranjska Gora (Slovenia), Garmisch Partenkirchen and Ofterschwang (Germany), Bansko (Bulgaria) and Kvitfjell (Norway), as well as the finals of the World Cup in Are (Sweden) and the World Championships in Val d’Isère (France).
To embody its values of tradition, elegance and performance, Longines has appointed several Ambassadors of Elegance. These are celebrities whose personalities correspond to the brand’s image, such as the famous tennis couple Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf, the Indian actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the Chinese star Aaron Kwok Fu Shing, the Russian actor Oleg Menshikov and the Lithuanian actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite. Other Longines Ambassadors of Elegance include the models Denise Keller and Chi Ling Lin, and the German actor Peter Lohmeyer.
The watchmaking brand has also entrusted its reputation to sportsmen and -women who actively personify its most cherished values in competition. The Norwegian skier Aksel Lund Svindal, the Swiss riders Jane Richard and Markus Fuchs, the gymnast Shawn Johnson, and the Chinese men’s gymnastic team are all Longines Ambassadors of Elegance.
Despite these strong links with sport, the company does not confine itself to timing competitive events. Since 1919, it has been the official supplier to the FAI, the World Air Sports Federation, and has provided the aeronautical world with the timing equipment required to verify several world records. Among them was the historic human and technical achievement of the American pilot, Charles Lindbergh, who, in 1927, made the first non-stop solo crossing of the North Atlantic in his vessel named “Spirit of St Louis”. Longines instruments have thus accompanied many explorers on journeys around the planet and have supported the pioneers of the sky.
Today, Longines creates timepieces that are adapted to the constraints of modern times without sacrificing its core values. The watchmaking tradition of the winged-hourglass brand is exemplified by models in the Longines Master Collection, the Longines Evidenza, Longines Spirit, or the Heritage Collection (Flagship Heritage, Longines Clous de Paris, Conquest Heritage, or Les Elégantes de Longines). Its devotion to elegance is expressed in the Longines Dolce Vita, Longines BelleArti (contemporary elegance) or La Grande Classique de Longines (classic elegance) collections. Finally, all of its sporting experience is invested in performance, with models such as the HydroConquest, Conquest, GrandVitesse and Longines Admiral. The Longines Sport Legends (The Longines Weems Second-Setting Watch, the Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch, the Longines Legend Diver and the Longines Istituto Idrografico R. Marina Watch) all pay tribute to the famous instruments that have been invented by the brand with the winged hourglass.
Longines is a member of the Swatch Group, the world’s leading producer of watches and associated products. Its signature is timeless elegance based on a rich aesthetic heritage that it keeps up-to-date with a skilful blend of refinement and classicism. Its current models are inspired by a history of daring technology and bold styling nurtured within the Manufacture, a huge laboratory that carefully protects the profile of Longines creations.
Longines is a brand that has always had worldwide ambitions. Today, the company is present in more than 130 countries and has preserved its essential, long-standing values. Elegance is the fundamental principle that still drives every aspect of its activities around the world
Biography of Walter von Känel, President of Longines
Date of birth: September 1, 1941, in Schwerin, Germany
Nationality: Swiss
Marital status: Married, 2 children
Education: Commercial studies and apprenticeship with Nusslé SA, La Chaux-de-Fonds. Many proficiency and advanced training courses in Switzerland and abroad
Hobbies: Target shooting, running, long distance skiing, regional history
Professional Career
1963: Federal Authority in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Bienne and Brig - Customs technical officer
1964 - 1969: Jean Singer Ltd., La Chaux-de-Fonds - Various duties in the Industrial Accounts, Logistics and Sales Departments
1969 - 1988: Longines Watch Co. Francillon Ltd., Saint-Imier - Sales Executive, Sales Department Manager, Sales and Marketing Manager
As of 1988: Longines Watch Co. Francillon Ltd., Saint-Imier - President
As of 1990: The Swatch Group Ltd. - Member of the Group’s enlarged management
Walter von Känel, a keen fan of the Saint-Imier watchmakers
“Watchmaking has always fascinated me”, says Walter von Känel, who spent his childhood from 1945 at the top of the Saint-Imier Valley in the Bernois Jura, the heart of Swiss watch-making. “When I was a boy, the great Longines company in the foothills of Saint-Imier, where most of the people of our region worked, always impressed me, and I was convinced that one day, I was going to work there. Already at that time, watchmaking was the thriving force of our region, and I knew that one day it would enable me to discover the world.”
Walter von Känel’s professional career started with the Federal Authorities, where he worked as a technical officer in the Customs Departments. In 1964, he joined Jean Singer Ltd., a watch dials and cases manufacturer in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
After a few years in the Industrial Accounts, Logistics and Sales Departments, he joined the Longines Watch Company Francillon Ltd. as a Sales Executive. Shortly after, he was sent to the USA for a training course with Longines’ American agent: LONGINES – WITTNAUER WATCH Co. LTD in New York. His passion for watchmaking, his abilities, his talent as a negotiator and his strong personality are all qualities that enabled him to climb the ladder quickly. In 1988, after having worked as a Sales Executive and then as a Commercial Executive (Sales and Marketing), he was entrusted with Longines’ General Management.
In 1990, Nicolas G. Hayek, Chairman of The Swatch Group Ltd., requested him to join the Group’s enlarged management. The many years that Walter von Känel served in the Swiss Army as an officer in the militia have enabled this former Major in an Infantry Regiment to acquire ground expertise in the fields of human resources management and general organization.
Walter von Känel is also involved in local and regional politics: he is a town councilor of Saint-Imier, member of the Bernese delegation to the Inter-Jurassic Assembly and of the "Conseil du Jura Bernois".
Swatch Group
Welcome to the Swatch Group
The Swatch Group has a very special emotional culture. We produce beauty, sensuality, emotionality in watches – and we also produce high-tech on your wrists. Both, emotionality or poetry and high-tech are part of what we feel towards our customers. We love them genuinely. We want them to be happy – we want YOU to be happy.
On our site you will find news and tidbits, press releases and history. You will also have access to our brand and company sites listed below. Enjoy these sites: look under «Discover our brands» and click on the brand you wish to know more about. You will discover a fascinating world of diversity, beauty and quality with our brands and a high level of craftsmanship and industrial know-how with our production companies.
If you don't find what you are interested in, please mail us your questions. We might not be able to give away strategic secrets – which interest our competitors more than our customers –, or to unveil what we are up to during these next months and years. But we will be happy to help. Thank you for visiting our site.
With kind regards,
Nicolas G. Hayek.
Chairman and Delegate of the Board of Directors of the Swatch Group
Swatch Group is exceptional
Many people know the Swatch Group above all as the world's top producer of finished watches. What is less well known is that the Swatch Group is a vertical enterprise in the watch production business, with the capability to manufacture all the necessary components for the production of both mechanical and quartz watches. An enterprise that enables us to design, produce and distribute our brands’ products completely independently.
Movements, hands, crowns, cases, screws, pallets, escapements, electronic circuits, batteries, ceramics and sapphire, to give just a few examples, there’s nothing that can’t be produced in-house by our employees in our factories, our workshops, and our laboratories. In fact the whole of the Swiss watchmaking industry, and part of the global watchmaking industry, are in one way or another dependent on the Swatch Group.
Our Group is equally capable of autonomously distributing its products throughout the world. This is thanks to our own network of boutiques, and thanks to our vast network of retailers who keep asking us for the products you want them to stock.
The Group is also the only enterprise in the world that produces a mass-market product and is present in every market segment: from the very top of the range through to children’s watches, we offer consumers products for every taste, for every budget and, above all, for every dream. Our recent agreement with Tiffany & Co. will enable us to get more deeply involved in one of the few areas where we have had less of a presence until now, namely that of jewel watches.
This leadership position and its accompanying success allow us to explore new avenues: jewelry, the world of art, in which we have participated for almost thirty years, and technical innovations that enable us to continue investing in projects that protect the destiny of our planet. But above all, it places on us a heavy responsibility: as a major employer, we have for decades had a policy of investing profits in our manufacturing plant, with the objective of retaining and creating jobs in Switzerland.
Lastly, we believe it is fundamental that everything we create should be true to the emotional values that underpin our brands and, we hope, will bring you excitement and pleasure.
Nick Hayek
President of the Executive Group Management Board
Swatchgroup.com
