Man's World: As the resident historian of the brand can you elaborate on Longines's long association with India, which goes back a century or even more? Daniel Hug: Yes. Longines started to sell watches in India as early as 1878. That was the time when we still had the British empire and the oldest watch we found in India was Longines pocket watch in silver from 1884 in Mumbai. And what's amazing is really that this watch, which is 140 years old, is still in working condition.
It's a long history that connects Longines to India. And, what I found really impressive, is that Longines made even special watches just for India. Like the Pilot's watch from 1950, a huge watch of 44 millimetres, anti-magnetic, is absolutely shockproof, highly resistant, and very accurate. And there are some special features like a second hand, that you can see moving during the night because there is a luminous mask on the tip of the hand. It's a feature that you see normally on the dive watches, not on pilot's watches. But it comes from aviation.
The watch is missing in our museum, and at the moment, I'm on the hunt.
I'm searching for exactly such a watch because I want to have it in our museum.
This big Indian watch is an important watch for us. The engravings on the movement are just amazing. The engraving on these types of watches was directly on the bridge of the movement.
So, I want to have that in the museum as well. Some of our collectors have it. That's why I know the watch.
MW: Do you get requests from Indian owners of vintage Longines for repair and change of parts?
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