Longines - Conquest Jumping
Amongst the many sports that Longines partners - which include tennis, downhill skiing, archery and gymnastics - equestrian sports hold a particularly significant place. They are a true passion that is wholly owned by the brand. And within the realm of equitation itself, alongside racing and endurance, show jumping reigns supreme.
Longines' first partnership was signed for a show jumping event in 1912. Sixty-two years and dozens of Longines-supported events later, the brand officially signed a partnership with the International Equestrian Federation (FEI). The World Cup Show Jumping, an indoor circuit which has taken place annually since autumn 1978, today bears the name of the Longines FEI World Cup.
In a world premiere, and in collaboration with the FEI, Longines has recently launched the Conquest Jumping model, dedicated to show jumping. This is the first ever watch to enable a rider's round to be timed to the nearest hundredth of a second, but also, and above all - and herein lies the world first - to manage the penalties imposed by the rules of this sport. To endow a wristwatch with all the functions and settings required to time show jumping is a feat that has been applauded by John P. Roche, FEI Jumping Director.
In a nutshell, two tables (A and C) govern penalties during show jumping competitions. Table A records the penalty points (for example, 4 points for a knocked down bar) while in Table C, faults are penalised in seconds (for example, eight seconds for the same knocked-down bar).
The new Conquest Jumping timepiece allows penalties to be converted to time or to add penalty seconds in the event of the allotted time being exceeded, in line with the table (A or C) applied to the course being monitored.
A large number of functions can be programmed on the watch in order to calculate the end performance achieved by the rider being monitored: Table A or B, the time allotted to the round, the number of penalty seconds added for each fault and the countdown. The watch times the rider's round and for every fault, a press on the penalties/sec push piece adds the number of seconds corresponding to the round time. Once all the parameters have been recorded and the first rider monitored, a single press on the push piece allows the following rider to be measured.
The timing and the management of jumping regulations are powered by a new Longines L441 quartz calibre. In addition to hours, minutes and seconds, the watch also displays the date in a window at 4 o'clock and is housed in a 41 mm diameter steel case, water-resistant to 50 metres and featuring a sapphire crystal with a multi-layered anti-reflective treatment on one side and a screw-down case-back on the other.
Adorned with three counters (displaying the tables, pts/sec and small seconds), the dial comes in either a black or silver version, both magnificently balanced and offering optimal readability thanks to large applied hour-markers coated with Superluminova, as too are the rhodium-plated hour and minute hands. Several red accents further enhance the readability of the dial, endowing it with additional luminous touches.
The Conquest Jumping is secured to the wrist by a steel bracelet with a folding clasp.