Longines: History, Heritage and Two Hundred Year old Legacy

[00:00:00] Elegance is an attitude. Rings a bell? Yes, I am talking about Longines and on today's podcast I am discovering the rich history and heritage of this 200 year old brand with Daniel Hugg, head of Grand Heritage.

[00:00:26] Did you know, when was the first Longine watch bought by a customer in India? It was more than 140 years ago. Surprised? I too was. Hello and welcome to Luxe Insider with me your host Anita Khatri. Today we are in Delhi and we are at Imperial Hotel.

[00:00:54] Hotel which has legacy, it has history and right place for discovering heritage of the brand Longine. So thank you Daniel for fabulous presentation. It was so interesting that it convinced me that in my collection I should definitely add Longines.

[00:01:13] Already I have one but it belongs to my husband. It's not my own. Great to hear that and of course we have a wide choice I think that could appeal to you and you have to convince your husband that he will gift you.

[00:01:29] Another one, yes sure. No, I gifted him a Longine or he has to give me a Longine. Yes, that is good concept. Give me five adjectives which will describe the customer of Longine. Any five adjectives?

[00:01:43] We are in the lucky position that we have about 50% females and 50% males as clients which is quite unique in the watch world. So the customer might be very elegant. Elegance is an attitude, it's one of our claims so it appeals to many ladies to have something elegant, precious.

[00:02:09] On the same time we have lines that are very sporty, very resistant, very robust, accurate watches because we have over 100 year experience in sports timing, professional sports timing. And these kind of watches appeal to the sporty man, the man that is a pioneer

[00:02:34] that likes adventures, that likes special experiences. And once you have a watch that is resisting everything he is doing during his day, his week, his holidays and so on. So basically it is elegant, adventurous, sporty, accuracy. Accuracy, precision is also very important.

[00:03:05] Five words if I had to put it. Yes, this is what it is. Now when it comes to the heritage, I thank you to you. You took us already through certain information about India, the history of Longine with India.

[00:03:19] Would you be in a position to narrate any stories because you had a campaign but which is the oldest watch in India held by whom? The interesting thing is that we started very early to sell watches in India as early as 1878. 1878 you were already selling watches in India?

[00:03:41] In India, that's very early. We sold also some watches in Asia very early like in China because the founders of Longine they went very early international. Switzerland is a very small country and watch production was far more than just supplying Swiss customs with watches.

[00:04:11] What we produced was meant for more an international market. So they had to reach out for new markets. They went east to Asia, to Arabic countries. They went west to other European countries and the United States. So from right early onwards Longine was heading for international markets

[00:04:36] and that explains maybe why we were so early in India as well. Now for the oldest watch that we found in India in a contest that we did 10 years ago we found one from owner in Mumbai who had a nice silver pocket watch from 1884.

[00:04:59] 1884 he has a pocket watch? Yeah, the pocket watch. So this watch is now 140 years old and the amazing thing is that this watch is still in working condition although it has never undergone any repairs just servicing and that speaks for the quality of a Longine watch.

[00:05:24] And can you tell us the name of the person who owns this? The name of the person is Korshet Poonawala. When you discovered this how did you feel? I mean to say this is very old watch and in spite of being 150 years old

[00:05:49] it has been ticking day and night without any repair. It talks so much about the accuracy and precision of the movement. You are right. What I always found very interesting is in what context the watch has been used. For what reason? Why did this man have this watch?

[00:06:10] And the history there is that the watch has been brought by an Englishman to India who was offering a training for young Indians how to operate locomotives, how to operate trains. And he was educating local young men as locomotive drivers.

[00:06:37] And before he returned back to England he gifted this watch to his best friend in India and that was the grandfather of this Poonawala. The best friend. He was educated or his grandfather was educated as a locomotive driver then at that time.

[00:07:04] So he kept the watch and he transferred it to his son and through generations and so the watch is still in the family's hands. Fabulous. Any more such stories in India? Another outstanding story I think is that Longin conceived a special watch

[00:07:33] for Indian military pilots in the 50s. 1950s. Yes, 1950s. And this watch got the nickname the Big Indian because it's a huge watch with a case of 44 mm diameter. It's huge but you understand it somehow if you imagine how it was inside in a cockpit

[00:08:00] of the airplanes of this time. There is a lot of vibration and you can't even hold your arm quietly and it's always shaking a little bit so it's difficult to read precise time on a small dime. That's why they opted for a large dial on a big watch.

[00:08:21] It's called the Big Indian watch but why is it called it's Big Indian pilot? Big Indian because the watch is so big not because the pilot is big. Correct, but why was it named? Is it a special edition that was created for India?

[00:08:36] Yes this watch was only delivered to India to know other country. It was a government order. The specification were set by the government. So they said it must be readable during the night as well and that's reason why they put some radio marks on the dial

[00:08:59] and on the hands, on the minute hand, the hour hand and on the second hand which is quite exceptional. It's amazing to know that in 1950 Indian government actually placed an order with Longines as a brand. The business was even then happening not only when because

[00:09:19] It was after independence of India. Yes sure, you know why I'm saying this David because Daniel sorry. I'm saying this because it was only after 2000 that Swiss watch could be officially brought into India and the business started flourishing post that.

[00:09:39] Swatch Group of course was established around 1999 in India, 1999 or 2000 but we are talking about so business picked up you know the relationship about the Swiss watch exports started only post that and we are talking about 1950 Indian government already placing an order. You know why?

[00:10:01] Because it's fabulous this is a great story. Because that was not a commercial offer. This watch was not on sale in a normal watch boutique. It was a special government order for military purpose and it was absolutely not commercial.

[00:10:23] I have also to say that Longines produced two series but they were small series that we did for India. So there were not thousands of these watches, there were some hundreds but not as what was a small batch of production.

[00:10:42] In that besides the large size because of the readability because the pilot can read it other than that you explained to me about accuracy it was the one tenth of the second that No, not this one but the movement inside was a very accurate movement

[00:11:03] the caliber 15.68 it was so accurate that Longines supplied this watch one this watch movement once to the observatory of Neusatel to participate in a contest of very accurate watches. So the caliber 15.68 which you find also in the famous pilot's biotech watch

[00:11:35] that we produced for the Czech pilots was one of the larger movements and with a very high accuracy. Fabulous, Daniel for sharing with us such an interesting I mean even I'm discovering the story only today

[00:11:54] I have been in the industry for so long but didn't know about this Fabulous thank you for that. If I say that history plays a very important role in the brand's life cycle and legacy in history is important for consumer

[00:12:16] who would appreciate quality and that legacy that has been achieved by the brand but today's youth how do you speak to the youth do you think youth today value that history? I feel that there is a great interest to know the origins of something

[00:12:36] of an object or a brand that's why I think the legacy of a brand heritage is still important in respect also that we draw a lot of inspiration from our past Longin has such a rich history and such a I would say history

[00:12:56] full of inventions and creativity that we can still profit today in terms of inspiration for new watches that doesn't mean that we try to do 100% copy of the old watch it's more in the way that we take the basic the important elements

[00:13:20] or aesthetical codes of a watch that we produced in the past and we use it today in a more modern way in a modern interpretation of what we did in the past but if it comes to complications to special functions of a watch

[00:13:36] the past can still help us today with giving some inspiration and I see that even younger people they have renewed interest in watches because this generation uses a lot of time they like the social media now if you ask yourself what do they present on an Instagram account

[00:14:07] do they present there a smartwatch an Apple watch probably not because that's a generic object millions of pieces of the same pieces are everywhere it's not interesting to make a post with a smartwatch everyone has one but it's more interesting to do it maybe with a vintage watch

[00:14:29] because each vintage watch mechanical watch has its own history you don't find two watches that aged on the same way because it depends how we have been used what the owner did with the watch so the color might have been a little bit changed over time

[00:14:49] because it was exposed to sun rays some people kept it in a drawer the dial will look differently each watch has its individual history and these watches are far more interesting to show on social media than a smartwatch and I see a growing tendency among younger people

[00:15:13] that are directed to these type of watches again I totally buy this and I agree on this 100% because sometime ago when the smartwatch revolution took place it was a question mark for the entire Swiss watch industry is this going to be a 1970 watch movement crisis again

[00:15:36] but today what we are experiencing for the last 1.5-2 years the watches are only demand for mechanical watches is only increasing and it's growing and contrary to what we believed or what we were fearful of Apple watch or smartwatch would actually reduce an impact on the mechanical watch

[00:16:00] it's going the other way round and you are so correct in saying that exactly you are right I remember that the designer of Apple, Jonathan Ive he said when they presented it, when they launched the Apple Watch

[00:16:17] he said that will be the death of the Swiss watch industry now if I look today on the situation in the world markets I have to say that the United States the market for the Apple Watch, the most important market that's where the Apple Watch has been created

[00:16:40] is today the largest market, the most important market for Swiss watches there you go yes the United States surpassed China as leading market for Swiss watches and I mean that explains how the Swiss watch industry dealt with smartwatch smartwatches, I totally, I guess

[00:17:07] I don't want to say that it's useless I don't want to critic smartwatches, they can be very useful they track your fitness, your heartbeat for sports activities they might be very useful that is just one thing that they will not do

[00:17:29] they are not built for a 100 years lifespan an mechanical watch in the quality that Longin is producing has a lifespan of about 100 years a smartwatch tends to be obsolete in about five years because the software changes or you don't have enough memory

[00:17:50] or your screen is not good enough so it's not an object that you pass through generations and if I would imagine a wedding and the husband is gifting his wife a smartwatch she probably will not be very happy with this gift

[00:18:14] because she wants something where she can remember on this important day in her life in a very good sense, in a very good manner and here comes the history and the heritage and the legacy exactly and so this gift should have a lifespan of more than five years

[00:18:35] right, in fact Longin is more than 200 years old brand exactly yes now what's the story behind the interesting logo that we see of the R glass with the wings yes our logo is the winged hourglass and sometimes I have been asked

[00:18:55] the logo you find on movements already in 1867 sometimes I've been asked were they thinking already about deviation about airplanes when they put wings on the hourglass and then I have to say no it was not like this but this symbol has a philosophical meaning it means time flies

[00:19:17] time is a continuum nobody is capable of stopping time so you should use your time in a meaningful way as long as you live as they say time is the most precious gift that you can get exactly, exactly that's what it stands for yes

[00:19:39] so if I may ask you historically it was first Longin created the pocket watches was it the pocket watch which came first or the rest was the one which came first Longin did the first pocket watches but without a chronograph mechanism the first chronograph caliber came in 1878

[00:20:02] and Longin did it in a very accurate high precision way so that's the reason why it has been widely used afterwards to time horse races yes that's about the question at that time basically all the production of Swiss watch brands were pocket watches the wristwatch comes much later

[00:20:32] when did this by any chance you know I thought it was around 1910 Longin produced the first wristwatch in 1902 1902 and the fashion to wear a wristwatch came from the ladies yes they started very early to wear watches on the wrist

[00:20:56] because they liked highly decorated watches with diamonds with precious stones and it was an object of nearly jewelry and the men they were keeping their pocket watch inside their waist because they thought it's not appropriate to expose a watch on the wrist it's far too dangerous okay

[00:21:28] probably also because they didn't was it because of the priced item because of moisture, because of rain, because of dust, because of shocks probably women moved a bit more carefully than men and paying more attention to the watch

[00:21:49] but the fashion that men were wearing the watch on the wrist in majority came after World War I yes, World War I World War I was a sad thing but it learned a lot of men, a lot of soldiers to wear a watch on the wrist

[00:22:13] instead of having a pocket watch because it was not very appropriate to always first grab your watch out from your pocket and then look at the diamond you lose a lot of time and then afterwards it came more into fashion

[00:22:31] and the thing that was difficult was a lot of watch producers hadn't the small movement for a wristwatch they were producing large movements for the pocket watch and not very tiny little movements for instance for ladies watches and for wristwatch afterwards elegant ladies watches with tiny mechanical movements

[00:22:56] we produced the first square shaped watch in 1912 the first rectangular watch for ladies in 1916 the watch which you displayed here is how old? the square watch with diamonds 1912 that's the one, that's a piece that is in 1912 and the first rectangular watch with a rectangular movement inside 1916 fabulous

[00:23:19] from whatever information you've had and the contest you had also in India what is Indian consumers like? what collection? are they having different choices or do you feel that in India round world, square world, what works? India is famous for people loving gold

[00:23:46] they treasure gold as an asset they like watches with a gold case the other thing is that Indians like colors they are more in colors than consumers in other countries and if I look at our sales I see that they like also elegant watches

[00:24:13] so the ground classic is one of the best sellers in India Grand Dolce Vita is doing very well in India and then the Hydro Conquest, the sports watch that you can use for diving is also doing very well in India

[00:24:32] that was all from my conversation with Mr. Daniel Hugg straight from the Longin event in Delhi I hope just like me you also discovered some less-known facts from the brand's rich history and heritage I also happen to review a piece from Longin that's now on my wish list

[00:24:54] stay tuned for the next episode to know which watch am I talking about see you soon