LONGINES

One of our best-loved and oldest Swiss watch brands, founded as far back as 1832, Longines embodies the spirit of Swiss watchmaking, with all the craftsmanship and precision one would expect in a luxury Swiss watch, but with a a classic and elegant approach to style that has never wavered.

The Spirit collection is based around the exclusive L791 calibre movement, giving it chronometer status.

A COSC-certified chronometer needs to be accurate to -4 to +6 seconds per day. While this is not as accurate as a quartz watch (which is usually better than 1/2 second per day), when one bears in mind that there are 86,400 seconds every day, a chronometer automatic watch, which will contain hundreds of meticulously assembled parts, has an accuracy of 99.994% - a remarkable piece of engineering! A non-chronometer automatic (plus or minus up to around 15 seconds per day) still has an accuracy of 99.98%. The best way to ensure that your automatic watch is performing optimally is to give it 25 - 30 winds before putting it on your wrist, in order to ensure that the movement is fully charged. Any subsequent movement during the day will cause the weighted rotor in the movement to oscillate, further topping up the watch's charge.

The flyback chronograph, as seen here, occupies a special place in Longines' history. They invented the complication in 1925, which meant that pilots could calculate multiple time intervals with a single push of the reset button on the stopwatch function, rather than needing to stop and reset between legs of a flight.

The brand's ladies watches, including the stunning diamond-set Grande Classique and the Dolcevita with red strap, are testament to Longines' longstanding reputation for creating the most elegant of timepieces for women.