Longines

Longines was founded in Saint-Imier, Switzerland in 1832 by Auguste Agassiz with partners Henri Raiguel and Florian Morel, originally under the name Raiguel Jeune & Cie. His nephew Ernest Francillon transformed the company from the établissage system to factory production, establishing a factory at a location called 'Les Longines' (long meadows) in 1867. That year the factory produced its first in-house movement, the 20A, winning an award at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris. In 1878, Longines developed its first chronograph movement, the 20H. The winged hourglass logo, registered in 1889, is the oldest unchanged active trademark registered with WIPO. Longines became closely associated with aviation through collaborations with P.V.H. Weems (1927) and Charles Lindbergh (the Hour Angle watch, 1931). The company developed the first chronograph with flyback function in 1934 and its first quartz movement in 1953. Longines became part of what is now The Swatch Group in 1983 through the ASUAG-SSIH merger.