Replica Longines Automatic, Best Fake Longines Automatic

Longines Flagship 35.6 Automatic Stainless Steel Black Diamond (L4.774.4.57.2)

As expected!!!

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Candida Alvarez, From Germany Aldegundisstr. 14

Longines Master Collection Date 38.5 Two Tone Arabic (L2.628.5.78.7)

I bought this [BGI] watch for my wife as an anaversery gift, I thought the watch seem to be a nice look. Hope she likes it. But with a company like Bulova backing this watch I am sure that it will last a long time and be a great addition to her time pieces.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Melba, From USA Baltimore

Longines Weems Second-Setting Watch Pink Gold Roman (L2.713.8.11.0)

I wanted a gold watch but don't like the huge boyfriend styles. This one is perfectly sized not too bulky and doesn't scream trendy. Just a perfect CLASSIC watch that will be with me forever.

---- [Rating: 5 / 5 stars]

Review by Julio De Castro, From USA Kirkland, Washington

The new season of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Western European League began in Oslo this weekend. Longines, Title Partner, Official Timekeeper and Watch of the series, timed the victory of Penelope Leprevost on Flora de Mariposa. The Official Watch of the competition belongs to the new Longines DolceVita collection, which represents the contemporary elegance of the Longines watchmaking brand worldwide. This lady model is cased in steel, decorated with diamonds and features a silver-coloured "flinque" dial adorned with painted Roman numerals.

The Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping series gathers each year the world's best riders who compete for the most coveted Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final trophy. The Final will be held next year in Göteborg from March 23-28, 2016, where the very first finale took place 37 years ago. The Western European League presents 11 qualifying rounds at the most popular venues on the international circuit. After the first round in Norway, the series will move to Helsinki (FIN), Lyon (FRA), Verona (ITA), Stuttgart (GER), Madrid (ESP), London (UK), Mechelen (BEL), Leipzig (GER), Zurich (CH) and Bordeaux (FRA).

This weekend, the best riders and horses were gathered in the French capital for the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping, the eighth stage of the Longines Global Champions Tour. On Saturday, after a thrilling trial, Bertram Allen on Romanov won the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Paris, followed by Diniz Luciana (Portugal) on Fit For Fun 13 and Darragh Kenny (Ireland) on Sans Souci Z.

For the second year running, the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping is included in the Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT), a prestigious 15-stage tour of which Longines is the Title Partner and Official Timekeeper since 2013. In addition, this 5* show jumping event, the highest category in the FEI's hierarchy, counts towards the world's ranking of the discipline: the Longines Rankings.

This event was the perfect opportunity to discover the Longines DolceVita collection. Since its inception, this line has illustrated worldwide the brand's contemporary elegance. This year Longines has decided to offer a new interpretation of this collection, subtly combining geometric lines with soft curves.  
The Official Watch of the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping, decorated with diamonds and cased in steel, features a silver-coloured "flinque" dial adorned with painted Roman numerals. Driven by their quartz movement, the blued-steel hands point to the passing hours and minutes. This timepiece is mounted on a stainless steel bracelet.

The magical backdrop of Port d'Hercule and the Prince's Palace in Monaco provided once again a spectacular venue for the seventh round of the Longines Global Champions Tour from 25 to 27 June. Friday was marked by the victory of Iñigo Lopez de la Osa Escribano on Cascin and Abdelkebir Ouaddar on Cordano Sitte Z at the Longines Pro-Am Cup, while Scott Brash riding Hello M'Lady won the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix du Prince de Monaco presented by HSBC Private Bank (Monaco) SA on Saturday. To honour these amazing performances, they were all presented with elegant Longines by Mr. Charles Villoz, Vice President of Longines.

This event offered a great opportunity to discover the new Conquest Classic Moonphase, Longines chronographs which include a moonphase display. The sophistication of these timepieces makes them eminently refined watches and echoes the excellence and elegance of the stars of the equestrian universe.

Longines is the Title Partner, as well as the Official Timekeeper and Watch of the Longines Global Champions Tour. This prestigious series brings together the Top 30 ranked show jumpers in the world to compete in some of the world's greatest cities.

The start of the new Alpine skiing season is the opportunity for Longines to unveil the name of its new Ambassador of Elegance, American alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin. The young athlete is the winner of the « Longines Rising Ski Stars » for the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons, a prize awarded to the best female skier under the age of 21 who competes for the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup. Her achievements also include a World Championship title in 2013 and two crystal globes in her specialist discipline: slalom.

Longines has been the Official Partner and Timekeeper for the FIS World Cup Alpine Skiing races since 2006. The Official Watch of the season will be a one hundredth of a second chronograph, the Conquest 1/100th Alpine Skiing, specially created
for professional Alpine skiers as well as fans of this discipline. This model measures time at multiple intermediaries and has an intuitive analogue display that shows the time to one hundredth of a second using a specific hand. All of this is possible thanks to the latest generation of quartz movement developed exclusively for Longines.

On Saturday 19 April, the racecourse of Royal Randwick welcomed more than 26'000 persons for the 2014 edition of the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes Raceday. For the first time, Longines was the Official Watch & Official timekeeper of the Australian Turf Club for this amazing raceday. 9 races have set the tempo of the day including the $4 Million Group 1 Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), the richest weight for age race over that distance on turf in the world. The winner, It's A Dundeel, mounted by James McDonald run the 2'000 meters in the time of 01:59:33. 
 

A guest of honour, Longines Ambassador of Elegance, Simon Baker watched the races and elected the most elegant lady out of the 6 finalists of the Longines Award of Elegance competition. Simon Baker presented the winner, Melissa Hann, with a precious timepiece from the Conquest Classic collection.
 

Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes Raceday was the perfect occasion to discover Conquest Classic, a collection dedicated to the world of horse racing. The event's Official Watch was a steel chronograph from this line. With its 41 mm diameter, this timepiece has a black dial and is equipped with an exclusive column-wheel self-winding movement. As is the case with all models in the Conquest Classic collection, the watch's movement can be admired through its sapphire crystal case back.

Longines was proud to return to Hong Kong for the second year as Title Partner and Official Timekeeper of the Longines Hong Kong International Races. This race day is one of the most prestigious in the international calendar with four international group 1 races. Around 70'000 race-goers were present at Sha Tin Racecourse to witness great moments of sport. It was the ideal day to discover the models of the Conquest Classic collection, a line of watches dedicated to equestrian sports and representing Longines' long watchmaking tradition.

Longines Ambassador of Elegance and horse lover Aaron Kwok Fu-Shing participated in the excitement of the four Group 1 races and witnessed the victory of Akeed Mofeed with jockey Douglas White in The Longines Hong Kong Cup (2000m). Dominant under jockey Zac Purton triumphed in the Longines Hong Kong Vase (2400m) whereas Lord Kanaloa ridden by Y. Iwata won the Longines Hong Kong Sprint (1200m). As for the Longines Hong Kong Mile (1600m), it was won by Glorious Days under jockey Douglas White. All the winning owners, trainers and jockeys have been presented with Longines timepieces by Mr. Aaron Kwok Fu-Shing, Longines Ambassador of Elegance, Mr. Walter von Känel, President of Longines, Mr. Kevin Rollenhagen, Managing Director of The Swatch Group Hong Kong, Mr. Juan-Carlos Capelli, Vice President & Head of International Marketing of Longines and Ms. Karen Au Yeung, Vice President of Longines Hong Kong.

True to its motto "Elegance is an attitude", the brand awarded the Longines Prize for Elegance to Sherie Legrix, appointed most elegant lady of the day at Sha Tin Racecourse.

The Official Watch of the Longines Hong Kong International Races is a model of the Conquest Classic line. With a diameter of 40 mm, this model in steel and rose gold, houses the mechanical caliber L619. Its silvered dial is set with 3 arabic numerals and 9 applied indices with Super-LumiNova® and displays the hours, the minutes and the seconds as well as the date at 3 o'clock. This timepiece is water-resistant to 5 bar and its screw-down case back is fitted with a sapphire glass.

2013 Longines World's Best Racehorse

As the Official Partner of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, Longines had the pleasure to present the Longines World's Best Racehorse Ceremony during the Longines Hong Kong International Races Gala Dinner.

This title honours the three world's best racehorses of the year according to the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings. The ratings are based on the performance of horses in elite races. This year, two horses are placed equal first with 130 points: the Australian filly Black Caviar, undefeated in 25 races, and Trêve, the 3 years old French filly, who won the Prix de Diane Longines and the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 2013. They are followed by the American gelding Wise Dan, with 129 points.

The trophy of the Longines World's Best Racehorse is a crystal vase named Equus.

The Ladies Diamond Conquest models combine the brilliance of precious stones with the strength of ceramic in black and white. The dynamic beauty of those models, achieved through a marriage of sporty design and glittering diamonds, echoes the fine balance between performance and elegance. Sporty women who appreciate elegance will find exactly what they are looking for.

The Ladies Diamond Conquest models are aimed at those women who enjoy sport but are not willing to compromise on elegance. Thanks to the use of diamonds and the innovative combination with ceramic, these models add a touch of sophistication to the sporty beauty of Longines' range of products. With its delicate balance, the Ladies Diamond Conquest watch is the ideal timepiece to weapon many occasions; during an equestrian competition, a tennis tournament or while having fun on the ski slopes, but in the same vein it will add a touch of elegance worn for a cocktail party or a formal dinner.
These glittering timepieces boast a dynamic beauty which has been achieved by the use of ceramic embellished with 54 Top Wesselton VVS diamonds set around the inside of the bezel and on the dial. The bezel and the bracelet are reinforced by the use of white or black ceramic while the matching dial - white mother-of-pearl or black - completes the appeal of this model.
The Ladies Diamond Conquest models have a screw-down case back while the crown has a lateral protection. They are water-resistant to 5 bar and the bracelets have a triple safety folding clasp. The stainless steel case has a diameter of 35 mm and houses a quartz movement that shows the hours, minutes, seconds and date.

Thanks to their delicate balance between performance and elegance, these robust timepieces are ideal for women who enjoy sport but at the same time appreciate refinement. The Ladies Diamond Conquest models have added a new dimension to the Longines Sport Collection thanks to the inclusion of diamonds and the combination of these precious gems with the strength of ceramic.

87.7

The partnership includes naming Longines as the Official Timekeeper and Watch of the Preakness Stakes (G1) as well as the title partner in the Longines Dixie Stakes (G2) and the presenting partner of the International Pavilion.
The partnership begins with this year's Preakness, which has played host to 11 Triple Crown winners and other Hall of Fame horses such as Man o' War, Native Dancer and Spectacular Bid. The 138th running will take place on Saturday, May 18 at Pimlico Race Course.
 
"By becoming the Official Timekeeper and Watch of the Preakness Stakes and the title partner of the Dixie Stakes, Longines is proud to be part of a great event," Longines president Walter von Känel said. "This new partnership reinforces our commitment to equestrian sports in the US and reflects our devotion to and fashion for these exciting sports, which match perfectly with our core values of elegance, tradition and performance. We are also looking forward to be the presenting partner of the International Pavilion with Japan as the host nation."
Longines will have a prominent presence throughout Pimlico on Preakness day serving as the official timepiece at the finish line and the presentation of elegant watches to the owner, trainer and jockey of the winning horse. To highlight its partnership, the watchmaker will also have a digital "Longines Preakness Stakes Countdown Clock" on the official Preakness Stakes website, www.preakness.com.  
"The Maryland Jockey Club is proud to welcome Longines into the family of Preakness partners," said Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas. "We look forward to establishing and fostering this relationship for years to come, showcasing the Longines brand center stage at the middle jewel of horse racing's Triple Crown. The Triple Crown is a tough, grueling series with the Preakness holding the key to the process with 13 of the last 16 winners named champion 3-year-old."

Longines will also serve as the presenting partner of the International Pavilion, the premier hospitality destination on Preakness day. Positioned at the finish line, the International Pavilion brings the world to the Preakness by selecting a different country each year to serve as the host nation with its respective embassy and Ambassador serving as Honorary Host. The embassy of Japan and Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae will serve as the 2013 host nation.

The Swiss watchmaker will be Title Partner and Official Timekeeper of the Longines Global Champions Tour, opening an exciting new chapter in equestrian sport.

The Longines Global Champions Tour announcement comes at the start of the biggest season so far for the premier show jumping series. Longines Global Champions Tour 2013 will include dynamic debut events in Madrid, London and Shanghai. For the first time the Championship Final will take place at the magnificent Al Shaqab equestrian facility in Doha, Qatar.

The announcement marks a major commitment by Longines to the high calibre 5* show jumping events that are the hallmark of Global Champions Tour. The partnership brings together shared traditions of speed, precision, elegance and a passion for horses.
Jan Tops, President and Founder of Global Champions Tour, said: "This partnership is a significant milestone in our history and I look forward to a successful collaboration that will bring many benefits for the future of our sport. Longines has a truly impressive heritage in equestrian sport and I am delighted by the decision to strengthen our relationship with a long-term commitment."
Longines' President Walter von Känel said: "The Longines Global Champions Tour and our brand share common values such as precision, tradition and especially a passion for equestrian sports. We are proud to support this extraordinary series of events in show jumping with our timekeeping expertise. True to Longines' slogan - Elegance is an attitude - we are delighted to witness the world's best riders and horses competing in exciting contests."
The Longines Global Champions Tour season kicks off in Madrid from May 2-5 when the world's top riders and horses will go into battle for championship points and prize money.
Longines can draw on a long-lasting and vast experience in sport and has been an active timekeeper in show jumping since 1926. Today, Longines' involvement in equestrian sports includes show jumping, flat racing and endurance competitions.
 
Around 21 million international viewers tuned into last year's events on Eurosport. Almost 300,000 spectators watched the events live in some of the world's most beautiful destinations. Longines was official timekeeper at four events last season.

IW Magazine - August 13, 2012
The Longines LegacyAmong the museums, manufactures and historic landmarks that dot the villages of the Swiss Jura Mountains, the heart of the country's watchmaking district, the Longines Museum at Saint-Imier is a standout. Located in a wing of the brand's manufacture, one of the first to be established in the region, the museum traces the history of Longines from 1832, and in so doing, comprises one of the most comprehensive histories of Swiss watchmaking.
Longines celebrates that heritage this year, on its 180th anniversary, with the Saint Imier Collection of mechanical timepieces, a tribute to the town where it all started. Inspired by models produced during the brand's history, the collection includes a chronograph and a prestige model featuring four retrograde functions, containing the caliber L707 movement developed and made by ETA exclusively for Longines. It also has day/night and moonphase indications.
The cases are either steel, rose gold or two-tone, with a choice of four case sizes. Dials are black, silvered or mother-of-pearl with diamond indices. All are fitted with mechanical movements.
Cottage industry
Like most Swiss watch companies, Longines began life as a comptoir d'etablissage, the French term for what we would call a cottage industry. The owner of an etablissage produced watches by dividing the work according to components and contracting the production into small, specialized units. He would then assemble the final components and sell the finished watches to outside distributors and agents or at fairs. The first watches were carried out of the valley by donkey, then by stagecoach.
In the case of Longines, the founding assembleur/watchmaker was Auguste Agassiz, who assigned to local craftsmen the production of dials, hands and movement components.

Making a watch in 1830 involved fifty-four distinct steps, rising to something like 100 at the end of the century. These were executed by nearly as many types of craftsmen, including jobs as esoteric as scratch-brush scraper and case-spring maker.
Most of the craftsmen were farmers who worked on watches during the long winters.
These home workshops were called "counters" - "comptoir d'etablissage" translates literally to "counter manufacturing," a method of watch production that remained a local practice until the 1970s.
Agassiz's nephew, Ernest Francillon, succeeded him at Agassiz & Compagnie. When he took over in 1866, Francillon bought two adjacent parcels of land on the River Suze in Saint-Imier and built the region's first semi-mechanized watch workshop, or manufacture, making the decision to group all the steps in one place, with a staff that worked full-time, rather than only in the winter.
He started with thirty or forty workers, and by the end of the century, employed 853 people. By 1912, 1,200 people worked for Longines. The population of Saint-Imier was 8,000.
Sunlight
The manufacture was built in the typical style of the Jura to allow maximum sunlight in the days before electricity. The buildings were rectangular, rather than square, with floor-to-ceiling windows placed close together to bring light to the workbenches. The narrow width of the building, with windows on each side, prevented the rooms from being dark in the middle.
Francillon also changed the company name. Instead of following the convention of using a family name (Aggasiz was not his name, after all) he took the nickname of the land where the manufacture was built: Es Longines, which is latin and old French for "the flat middle."

The plot of land he had chosen was the flattest place in the village wedged between Chasseral Mountain and Mont-Soleil. It was also chosen because of its proximity to the River Suze. There was no electricity at the time, so the river was tapped to run the machines.
Francillon made two more decisions that would establish Longines as a world-class brand. He was the first watchmaker in the district to create a logo, a winged hourglass, and it is now the oldest brand logo on record registered with the World Intellectual Property Organization. Secondly, he instituted the policy of numbering every watch produced by the manufacture.
Ledgers
The brand's museum features a separate library containing the livres etablissage, a collection of 800 leather-bound ledgers that contain the number and details of every watch made by Longines since 1857. They list the caliber, model, a description and the name of the agent to whom each watch was sold.
"We use these books every day because we get so many requests for information," says Jennifer Bochud, the museum curator, who is in regular contact with the auction houses that sell watches.

"This adds a tremendous value to the watch," she says. "It also adds value for Longines, because we also find out more information about the watches—they travel all over the world, as if they have a life."
The books record these details from number one to number 15-million, stretching from 1857 to 1969. Since then, the data has been computerized. By the brand's 175th anniversary in 2007, it had produced 34 million watches. (Bochud wears number 37-million.)
Company milestones
Francion died in 1900, and the company passed to a succession of leaders. In 1969, Walter Von Kanel became president, and still holds that position at the age of 71. The museum outlines the progression of technological advances represented by the manufacture's production over the years and some of the brand's milestones.
Until about 1830, locally made timepieces were heavy pocket watches with a crown-wheel verge escapement. Soon the new Lepine design allowed watchmakers to make slimmer and cheaper watches that kept better time. By the late 1860s, they had turned to the Roskopf design as rugged and reliable as it was cheap.
By the early 1870s, Longines was building chronometer movements, while its first time-measurement devices date from 1878.
In 1920, the factory launched a movement with an eight-day power reserve, used in a series of pieces that included small clocks.
In 1923, French scientist Jean Lecarme led an expedition on Mont Blanc, he took ten Longines chronometers with him.
Longines was a member of the Aeronautical Association. In 1927, it recorded the famous flight of Charles Lindbergh from New York to Paris. Afterwards, he wrote a letter to Longines, outlining the functions he'd like to have on his watch, so Longines made one for him. The company still produces a version of this watch.
A frequent entrant in World Expositions, Longines won ten Grand Prix medals at the 1929 Barcelona exhibition.
In 1945, Longines introduced its first self-winding movement, caliber 22A. It was a circular movement measuring 21.5mm, with subsidiary seconds.
In 1954 the company made its first transportable quartz clock. It was used for sports timekeeping, and was accompanied by a photo finish mechanism. Longines has long been active in equestrian sports, archery and skiing.
In the 1950s, Longines began to name collections. In 1954 it launched the Conquest collection, and in 1957, the Flagship.
The brand started producing quartz watches in 1969. At that time, the brand was making twenty percent quartz and eighty percent mechanical movements. Eight years later, the proportion was just the opposite.
The quartz layoffs

Since quartz movements require less work, Longines, like all Swiss brands, had to lay off many workers during this period. Between 1975 and 1985, watch industry employment in the Saint-Imier area went from 3,000 jobs to 900 jobs.
Today, the equation of Longines production has reversed again, with seventy percent devoted to mechanical movements. During the 1970s, LCD was introduced into the collection as the result of a collaboration between Texas Instruments and ETA, which was by then making Longines' movements.
Longines was in the forefront of many of the most important trends in watchmaking during this period. In 1978, it was producing watches with a very slim quartz caliber, and in the 1980s, introduced two-tone watches into its collections. In 1987 Longines produced its first reproduction of the Lindbergh watch.
In 1983 the Swatch Group acquired Longines. The Group's ETA division had been making the brand's movements for several years because the last manufacture movement (L990) made by Longines was in 1977. After that, the brand used movements made by ETA, which today occupies a section of the Longines manufacture that is dedicated to making movements exclusive to the brand. Thus, the Saint-Imier headquarters has returned to the role of the manufacture.

Elegance begins
By the end of the 1990s, Longines introduced the advertising slogan "Elegance is an Attitude," and entered partnerships with the brand's first ambassadors. In 2001, the company produced its 30-millionth watch. By 2007, the brand introduced the MasterCollection, made up entirely of mechanical watches, including the MasterCollection Retrograde, with an exclusive movement fitted with retrograde functions. The Longines Sport Collection was also introduced in 2007.
Today Longines focuses on a mix of sporty models and dress pieces. The 2012 releases focus on the brand's four pillars: Elegance, Watchmaking Tradition, Sport and Heritage.

Elegance: The elegant aspect of its lines is exemplified in the Longines PrimaLuna, the Longines DolceVita and the La Grande Classique de Longines collections.
Watchmaking Tradition: The Longines Master Collection is an example of the brand's technical and aesthetic expertise, while the brand's Evidenza was inspired by the Art Deco movement. And a prime focus this year is the Saint-Imier Collection, this series of exceptional pieces is intended as a tribute to the town central to Longines' founding and development.
Sport: Longines' involvement in sport dates back to 1878 with its first chronograph movement, the 20H. The Longines Sport Collection is a tribute to its history in the world of sport while Conquest and HydroConquest lines represent further explorations into aquatic sports.
Heritage: Among the exceptional pieces: the Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch, a re-issue of the timepiece developed for the American pilot Charles Lindbergh in 1931. The Longines Weems Second-Setting Watch, a tribute to the navigation system devised by Captain Philip van Horn Weems, and the Longines Twenty-Four Hours, a re-issue of a watch designed in the 1950s specially for Swissair pilots, are also among the stars among the Heritage models.

Simon Baker personifies the core values of Longines and perfectly underlines the slogan "Elegance is an attitude". He will be officially introduced as worldwide Longines Ambassador of Elegance at the Prix de Diane Longines in Chantilly (France), where Longines is the title partner and official timekeeper.

Simon Baker joins the family of international Longines Ambassadors of Elegance that comprises British actress Kate Winslet, tennis legends Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf, Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Asian stars Chi Ling Lin and Aaron Kwok.
Walter von Känel, President of Longines, said: "We are delighted to welcome Simon Baker to the Longines family. Our Ambassadors are carefully selected to build a perfect match with the brand's philosophy and tradition of elegance. Longines is known to be a big family and Simon Baker is now part of this family. "
The newly appointed Longines Ambassador of Elegance Simon Baker said: "I am very happy to join the Longines family of Ambassadors of Elegance. I am proud to have been chosen to embody Longines' slogan "Elegance is an attitude" all over the world and I am looking forward to attending the Prix de Diane Longines in Chantilly next Sunday."
The Australian actor will be officially introduced at the Prix de Diane Longines in Chantilly (France). Longines, which celebrates its 180th anniversary this year, will be the official timekeeper of the Prix de Diane Longines for the second consecutive year. Longines slogan: "Elegance is an Attitude" will be the byword for Sunday 17th June. It will be an unforgettable day that combines sport with elegance. In between colourful hats and striking outfits, Longines will introduce a model of its latest line, The Longines Saint-Imier Collection.

Representing the casual beauty that is characteristic of the Conquest line, Ladies Diamond Conquest is a mass of sparkling brilliance thanks to the 120 diamonds set in the bezel. The circular stainless steel case has a protected crown and houses a quartz calibre (L263.2).

Enhancing the brilliance of the diamonds set in the bezel, the white mother-of-pearl dial is set with eleven diamonds as indices. This model shows the hours, minutes and seconds and has a date aperture at 3 o'clock. Designed especially for women who want to combine an active life with an elegant appearance, this watch has a screw-in back cover and is water-resistant to 5 bar (50 meters). Ladies Diamond Conquest is mounted on a stainless steel bracelet which enhances the sparkle of its diamonds. 

Danedream and jockey Andrasch Starke won the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe run over a distance of 2,400 meters at Longchamp racecourse in a record time of 2'24''49. Danedream, that had also captured the Longines Grosser Preis von Baden in September, easily won the race and broke the racecourse record time dating back to 1997. Longines has the honour of being the official timekeeper of this Parisian racecourse, where the prestigious race is run. During the tremendous raceday, under a sunny sky, the Swiss watch brand also handed over to the jockey, trainer and owner of Dream Ahead, winner of the Qatar Prix de la Forêt, a model that embodies its philosophy as well as its famous slogan "Elegance is an attitude": The Longines Column-Wheel Chronograph.

Having been involved in the world of sport since 1878, Longines has a vast experience in timing equestrian events. As part of its partnership with France Galop, the organisation responsible for national flat racing and steeplechase in France, Longines is present at Chantilly, Deauville and Longchamp racecourses as official timekeeper. The brand is also the title partner of the Prix de Diane Longines.

With a passionate involvement in equestrian sport, Longines is also an official partner and timekeeper for many equestrian events, such as most of the CSIO Nations Cup show jumping competitions as well as the various competitions organised by the Arab Equestrian League. In addition, apart from its traditional involvement in the Melbourne Cup Carnival, which includes the Longines MacKinnon Stakes, Longines is also the official timekeeper for other major meetings such as the Longines Singapore Gold Cup, organised by the Singapore Turf Club, the Dubai World Cup and the traditional Kentucky Derby, which is held at the Churchill Downs racecourse. Moreover, Longines has the honour of being a partner in Royal Ascot. The brand has deliberately chosen to be involved in equestrian events because they demand concentration, precision and experience.

The Longines Column-Wheel Chronograph
Longines took the opportunity to present a watch that embodies its philosophy as well as its famous slogan "Elegance is an attitude". The Longines Column-Wheel Chronograph gives priority to classical and refined beauty. The column wheel that forms part of the movement serves to steer the functions of the chronograph mechanism. This model has a stainless steel, 39 mm diameter case that surrounds a silvered dial with 13 hour symbols. It displays the hours and minutes with a small seconds at 9 o'clock, as well as the date plus of course the chronograph functions. This model is fitted on a dark brown alligator strap and is water- resistant to 3 bar (30 metres).

Longines proudly presents the winners of the 2011 Longines Press Award for Elegance. To round up the season, the Swiss watch brand awarded Beezie Madden (USA) and Eric Lamaze (CAN) at the CHIO Rotterdam, the final stage of the season. Longines would like to congratulate them on their distinctive elegance as well as on their exceptional sporting performance throughout the 2011 Nations Cup season. American rider Beezie Madden also won the Longines Grand Prix Port of Rotterdam.

Longines is proud to have served for the sixth consecutive time as official partner, timekeeper and title sponsor of the Longines Grand Prix Port of Rotterdam at the CHIO Rotterdam.
Among the best performing riders throughout the six previous CSIO events (La Baule, Rome, St. Gallen, Falsterbo, Hickstead and Dublin), Beezie Madden (USA) on Coral Reef Via Volo and Eric Lamaze (CAN) on Hickstead convinced the international jury of equestrian experts most with their incomparable elegance at the CHIO Rotterdam.
Beezie Madden said: "I am very happy to have won the Longines Press Award for Elegance. To me, when you ride with elegance, it means that you probably do most things right with your horse".

Eric Lamaze said: "I was surprised to be awarded with this prize. I am very thankful and honoured. I have to say my horse Hickstead is very elegant and it was very helpful."
Both riders have been awarded yesterday the 2011 Longines Press Award for Elegance receiving a trophy, a set of Longines watches and a cheque for 20,000 Swiss francs.

Beezie Madden has been the queen of the day as she also won the last Grand Prix Longines of the season, namely the Longines Grand Prix Port of Rotterdam. Eric Lamaze also achieved a great performance in Rotterdam by winning two competitions.
Despite the difficult weather conditions, the CHIO Rotterdam was very successful. A brand new grandstand has been inaugurated on Friday 26th August in presence of Prince Willem Alexander.

In 1947 France instigated a series of exploratory missions to the Arctic and Antarctica under the leadership of a renowned scientist, Paul-Emile Victor. These expeditions brought together geologists, geodesists, meteorologists, physicists, biologists, geographers and glaciologists all were aiming to explore, study and understand the North and South Poles. The mass of equipment required by the first Paul-Emile Victor missions for exploring these inhospitable regions included four Longines ship's chronometers and fifteen Longines wristwatches which were used for determining their astronomical position. In honour of these exploratory missions the Swiss watchmaker has re-issued the time-piece used by the scientists on the Expeditions Polaires Françaises - Missions Paul-Emile Victor to explore Greenland and the Adelie Coast.

In the second half of the 1940s, public opinion was fascinated by the most distant corners of the Earth, which aroused a passionate interest among many people. Like other countries, France set up a body for organising national scientific expeditions, namely to the Arctic and Antarctica. Paul-Emile Victor, an ethnologist and explorer who had already spent a good deal of time in Greenland during the 1930s, was mandated to create and manage the new office. Between 1947 and 1976 the Expeditions Polaires Françaises - Missions Paul-Emile Victor organised 150 trips to Greenland and the Adelie Coast, led by the ethnologist.

A considerable amount of equipment was necessary for these expeditions in order to deal with the difficult conditions that prevailed in the inhospitable areas to which they were going. For example the expedition that left Europe in May 1948, took seven amphibious tracked vehicles, two Dakota aircraft, tractors, laboratory trailers, a mobile weather station, tents, sledges and 30 lorry-loads of supplies. For this exploratory trip the scientists also took four Longines chronometers, three being set to civil time and one to sidereal time. Fifteen members of the expedition wore stainless steel wristwatches made by Longines. These time-measuring instruments were intended primarily for determining the astronomical position of the expedition (they were also used for precise geodesic calculations). The reports on the performance of these timepieces written by the scientists who used them are a reminder of the crucial role such instruments played in scientific expeditions to the remotest parts of the world. By being part of these scientific expeditions in the mid-20th century, Longines also travelled northwards and southwards, to the two Poles.

The Longines watch that the members of the Expeditions Polaires Françaises - Missions Paul-Emile Victor wore was a stainless steel wristwatch with a centre seconds. A centrally mounted second hand was still quite rare in the 1940s but apparently met the need for easy reading, as illustrated by the use of luminescent coating on the hour symbols, the numerals and the hands. A point of interest is that the Longines 12.68N calibre used in this model had an anti-shock device that was different from the standard feature in other Longines watches.

Longines has decided to re-issue the timepiece that accompanied the scientists who took part in the Expeditions Polaires Françaises - Missions Paul-Emile Victor as a tribute to these expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica to explore the remotest corners of our planet. The Longines Expeditions Polaires Françaises - Missions Paul-Emile Victor watch is an accurate reproduction of the instrument used at the time by the geologists, geodesists, meteorologists, physicists, biologists, geographers, glaciologists and film-makers that joined the expedition. Fitted with a self-winding mechanical movement, this model has a date aperture at 3 o'clock and a silvered dial with hour symbols and Arabic numerals, as well as hands coated in Super-LumiNova. It is available on a strap in either genuine brown alligator skin or black leather. The Longines Expeditions Polaires Françaises - Missions Paul-Emile Victor watch is engraved on the back of the stainless steel case, recalling the two geometrically opposed destinations of these legendary expeditions - the Arctic and Greenland, and the Antarctic and the Adelie Coast.

A silvery moon on a spring night; a star that glistens reaches its peak and then disappears. A symbol of passing time, living time and the moon that entrances us with its rounded, delicate lines the new Longines PrimaLuna is a tribute to this silvery star. Its soft silhouette is enhanced by the exquisite purity of the dial and the whole is illuminated by a play of sparkling diamonds. Graceful, magical, this is a model that will seduce women who appreciate contemporary, sophisticated elegance.
The Moon has been used to measure time by every civilisation; this night star is feminine, cyclical and eternal. A star that produces dreams! In many cultures the New Moon is a symbol of renewal when it marks the beginning of a new year or the arrival of spring. To pay tribute to this mystical star, the famous Saint-Imier watchmaker is launching an exquisitely fine interpretation of the magic of the Moon this year: the Longines PrimaLuna.

The subtle mystery of spring, the Longines PrimaLuna emerges from a wakening world. The Moon is no longer pale but iridescent, opaline, masterful. Sheherazade moves elegantly into position under the stars...
The delicate gleam of stainless steel, the rich hue of rose or yellow gold, or the blend of rose gold and steel. A sleek bracelet of steel, gold or steel and rose gold or a leather strap. A selection of heavenly dials: white, silvered or mother-of-pearl decorated with hour symbols, Arabic or Roman numerals or diamonds. And finally, three hands, blued, gilded or rose, that marks the passing of time. As multifaceted as the modern woman, the Longines PrimaLuna range offers a selection of models in four sizes.
This ladies' watch is at the same time a piece of jewellery. The pleasing curves of the case are enhanced by a play of diamonds. Precious pieces of pure carbon that glitter with fascination... so feminine! Similarly, the white mother-of-pearl dials of the most sophisticated models are also decorated with sparkling teardrops that will seduce any woman who appreciates diamonds.

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