Longines, Tissot Mark Major Anniversaries
By William George Shuster, Senior Editor -- JCK-Jewelers Circular Keystone, 4/1/2003
Two well-known Swiss brands celebrate milestone anniversaries this year.
On Jan. 28, Longines marked 125 years with new limited-edition timepieces and an exhibition. "Hope and Glory" has 125 sets, each of which includes a presentation case with a pair of prestigious timepieces: a vintage sports timepiece and a wrist chronograph based on the watchmaker's original design. The exhibition, mounted in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, covers more than 12 decades of sports timekeeping by Longines.
Tissot marked the 150th anniversary of its founding in Le Locle, Switzerland, with a gift for its customers: a specially commissioned paperback book detailing the brand's history. Tissot: The Story of A Watch Company is a lavishly illustrated book being offered to everyone who buys a Tissot watch this year. Several million copies have been printed.
Tissot also is staging exhibits (through October) in two prestigious Swiss watch museums. The exhibits present its groundbreaking inventions and technology, such as the two-time-zone pocket watch of 1853, the antimagnetic watches of the 1930s, the Rock Watch of the 1980s, and today's T-Touch watch. The exhibits are at the Château des Monts Museum in Tissot's hometown of Le Locle and the Musée International d'Horlogerie (MIH) in La Chaux de Fonds. A condensed version of both will tour the globe.
Both Longines and Tissot are owned and produced by The Swatch Group, the largest watchmaker in Switzerland.
