Community Stories

New Book "Longines: Watches That Made History"

Seiji Lépine
Posts
1,457
Likes
4,243
There is a great new book that finally is out. It has 50 vintage watch stories. 35 watches are from collectors and 15 are from the Museum. It's available in many of the usual places. It will also be in flagship boutiques. This may seem like just another book, but this one has stories of many historical watches and it took more than 4 or 5 years to make this book. It's a great project with many of the most elite Longines watch collectors contributing. The Longines Heritage department took a very active role in the final years to make sure this book really happened. Watches and stories were researched and gathered from all over the world.

Stories are about Pioneers of Aviation, Special Military Watches, Racing Legendary Owners, Albert Einstein and other famous celebrities. I haven't received my copy yet so I can only go off of some of the stories I have personally seen which is only a couple. This book has been discussed in several Collector's Day gatherings organized by Longines. Longines arranged for the photography and the writer and editor that finally put the book together. Unlike Goldberger's book, this one goes beyond the archive extracts and discusses the historical achievements that were accomplished with Longines watches. If you have ever wondered what are some of the most amazing Longines watches out there, look around the internet for some of the excerpts from the book. I am sure more of the pages will get leaked as the first set of these books get in the hands of collectors.

IMG_4838.webp



Updated: The book has many well written articles about the many watches. It's an expensive book, but worth reading any way you can get a hold of one.
Edited:
 
CalgaryJim
Posts
424
Likes
2,014
Seiji Lépine Seiji Lépine
There is a great new book that finally is out. It has 50 vintage watch stories. 35 watches are from collectors and 15 are from the Museum. It's available in many of the usual places. It will also be in flagship boutiques. This may seem like just another book, but this one has stories of many historical watches and it took more than 4 or 5 years to make this book. It's a great project with many of the most elite Longines watch collectors contributing. The Longines Heritage department took a very active role in the final years to make sure this book really happened. Watches and stories were researched and gathered from all over the world.
Thanks for posting it, how did you find out about it?

I see it's available in Canada here as pre-order. The price converts to roughly $100 US.

Screenshot_20260331-092517.webp
 
Seiji Lépine
Posts
1,457
Likes
4,243
I wish I could get a discount code! I want to buy copies for myself in Japanese and French. I need to show my wife my hobby is not a useless effort so she stops trying to donate my library !
Edited:
 
CalgaryJim
Posts
424
Likes
2,014
Seiji Lépine Seiji Lépine
I wish I could get a discount code! I want to buy copies for myself in Japanese and French. I need to show my wife my hobbies is not a useless effort so she stops trying to donate my library !
Available in multiple languages, that's cool. If you don't mind my asking, how did you get involved with this book project?
 
pdxleaf
Posts
6,213
Likes
21,268
Seiji Lépine Seiji Lépine
Longines contacted the contributors. They know.

https://www.swatchgroup.com/en/serv...lector-finds-oldest-longines-watch-known-date

They wanted this one for the book. Two others are also included.
I dropped your name when I visited the museum. I think it helped because they gave us coffee and chocolates.

Edit: a seriously fantastic museum. And I really did mention your name. I think it was soon after the Longines contest. They said you were very nice and thoughtful.

20231026_142001.webp 20231026_142536.webp 20231026_152000.webp 20231026_142604.webp
Edited:
 
Seiji Lépine
Posts
1,457
Likes
4,243
pdxleaf pdxleaf
I dropped your name when I visited the museum. I think it helped because they gave us coffee and chocolates.
Oh I am sure it was because Longines staff is so kind and recognized you made a great effort to see them. 👍
 
Seiji Lépine
Posts
1,457
Likes
4,243
pdxleaf pdxleaf
I dropped your name when I visited the museum. I think it helped because they gave us coffee and chocolates.

Edit: a seriously fantastic museum. And I really did mention your name. I think it was soon after the Longines contest. They said you were very nice and thoughtful.

20231026_142001.webp 20231026_142536.webp 20231026_152000.webp 20231026_142604.webp
Looks like you visited during a beautiful time. I personally think the sun never comes out when I visit. In the bottom picture, someone is making away with a tresure chest! Did you get to meet Bernard Portal?
 
Seiji Lépine
Posts
1,457
Likes
4,243
I just got my copy of the new book yesterday and had a chance to flip through it. This is the best book by far that I have ever seen on the subject of Longines watches. The details and the stories of the extrodinary watches is really interesting and informative. If you truly are a collector of Longines watches, this book needs to be in your collection as a reference book. The owners of the watches are annoymous, you can enjoy the watches for the watches themselves.

If Longines desides to do another book, and if you have a watch that made history, you reall need to get included. The current book is not a few interesting watches, they are all very interesting watches with detailed histories. It is a little Wikipeadia of Longines watches.
 
pdxleaf
Posts
6,213
Likes
21,268
Seiji Lépine Seiji Lépine
Looks like you visited during a beautiful time. I personally think the sun never comes out when I visit. In the bottom picture, someone is making away with a tresure chest! Did you get to meet Bernard Portal?
No, we just met the super polite young docents. My brother and I were the only two in the museum, so we had an extended tour. Liked it much much more than Omegas. Plus that spot reeks of history. Walking down from the train station we felt like we were about to experience something from a different time.
 
Seiji Lépine
Posts
1,457
Likes
4,243
io8194 io8194
What a story about that book Seiji! They ask me photos and then nothing…🤷🏻‍♂️😀
I miss Jenny. Not a fan of Mr Hug…It was nice to see you some years ago in St Imier my friend.
Yes, Jennifer was a big loss and a big find for Breitling and Universal. Andy still keeps close in touch with her. Daniel is very careful in his handling of Longines Heritage. I have to avoid bringing up any Axis Powers Longines watches or I get censored. The " IJN never used Longines " it's too sensitive a topic. Daniel likes to say with Sports and Racing which are safe topics.
 
Seiji Lépine
Posts
1,457
Likes
4,243
pdxleaf pdxleaf
No, we just met the super polite young docents. My brother and I were the only two in the museum, so we had an extended tour. Liked it much much more than Omegas. Plus that spot reeks of history. Walking down from the train station we felt like we were about to experience something from a different time.
The museum is never truly "Open". It's really by appointment only as you found out after walking probably through most of the factory before you got to the museum.
 
Waltesefalcon
Posts
3,976
Likes
11,101
Seiji Lépine Seiji Lépine
Yes, Jennifer was a big loss and a big find for Breitling and Universal. Andy still keeps close in touch with her. Daniel is very careful in his handling of Longines Heritage. I have to avoid bringing up any Axis Powers Longines watches or I get censored. The " IJN never used Longines " it's too sensitive a topic. Daniel likes to say with Sports and Racing which are safe topics.
Porsche and Mercedes conveniently forgot the roles they played in the war effort as well.
 
12 More Posts...
Sign up or log in to reply...

Similar threads

EuroDriver

My display commemorating 2 rivals that made history together

EuroDriver Open Discussion
EuroDriver
EuroDriver
Posts
0
Views
543
shishy

[New Book] Vintage Military Watches by Zaf Basha

shishy Open Discussion
watchyouwant
watchyouwant
Posts
6
Views
5K
cal3.2.1

Are Longines watches good?

cal3.2.1 Longines Watches
62caster
62caster
Posts
51
Views
23K
Canuck

New Book- The Elgin Watchmaker’ College- by Gary Fox

Canuck Open Discussion
Canuck
Canuck
Posts
9
Views
5K
D

Need helps for this vintage Longines watches

Diehard Longines Watches
BlueOtter
BlueOtter
Posts
18
Views
7K
DirtyDozen12

Early Longines Watch - Mysterious Invoice

DirtyDozen12 Longines Watches
A
a.markovic
Posts
22
Views
11K