On the 19th of July 1880 at 11:00 am Ernest Francillon registered at the Federal Office of Intellectual Property under patent number 118 and 119 the brand Longines and its original logo, featuring the winged hourglass. 

The Longines trademark was first registered, under patent number 2684, at 4:00 pm on 27th of May 1889 and under patent number 14 on the 27th of March 1893 at the International Office of Intellectual Property (today the WIPO, World Intellectual Property Organizaton)

International exhibitions In 1885, Longines won its first "Grand Prix" at an international exhibition in Antwerp . Further success followed in Brussels (1897), Paris (1889, 1900 and 1925), Milan (1906), Genoa (1914), Berne (1914), Philadelphia (1926) and Barcelona (1929). Longines' record of ten "Grand Prix" and 28 "Medailles d'Or" has never been equaled by any other watch manufacturer. 

How to Care for Antiquarian & Vintage Watches 

• Most vintage watches are mechanical. Repairs will not be cheap. Most likely they will require replacement of non-standard parts (unlike late model watches)

•  Vintage watches should be handled with care and avoid being dropped as gold cases will dint

• Generally vintage watches are NOT waterproof. Waterproofing watch cases was not in general production until the middle of the 20th century for most watches. Therefore protect your antique watch from exposure to moisture

• If your watch becomes wet it should be dried off quickly. Carefully open all covers and use a hair drier to blow dry the movement, dial, covers, crown. This will reduce the amount of rust

• If your watch becomes wet with any kind of salt water you should immediately immerse or spray your watch with fresh water to remove all the salt before drying the watch completely 

• Winding any mechanical watch tightly will break the mainspring.  Always wind the watch gentle and stop when the crown springs back

• When adjusting the hands of your watch, wind in a clockwise direction only. Counter-clockwise adjustments may damage the movement

• If you must adjust counter-clockwise make it for small adjustments only (i.e. for minutes, NOT hours)

• Be careful and gentle when adjusting the movement speed (faster or slower) Don't make sharp movements, and don't touch other components in the movement especially the pendulum mechanism

• Every 2-3 years it is necessary to service and oil vintage watches

• When the watch is dirty - allow the watch to run down, don't wind it again until you have it serviced by a qualified watchmaker. Dust will absorb and remove important lubricants and cause the movement pieces to wear down

• To clean the case, dial and crystal you should use a cloth that does NOT leave fibers as these may get caught in the movement. Buy an approved watch cloth from a qualified jeweler

• Keep vintage watch away from magnets. Strong magnetic fields may affect the accuracy of your watch since some vintage watches were made with iron based components in the movement

• Most watch cases are fine components and will not handle abuse well. The watch should not be shaken, beaten, or stressed

• Vintage watches generally experience an error of up to 5-7 minutes a day. Any accuracy of +- 5 minutes is very good

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