The plane ticket said Seoul. The itinerary said 36 hours. But the real destination was somewhere else entirely – a sneak peek inside the inner workings of a nearly 200-year-old Swiss watchmaker. No trips to historical sites, no food tours. Just a closed-door look at Longines – a name that’s not working to catch up with the market, but to remind everyone else who was here first.
Naturally, there was a grand welcome dinner, which featured a carefully managed appearance from one of the brand’s Korean ambassadors, Suzy. It was the kind of moment that signalled Longines‘ awareness of where it was in the world and how to put its best foot forward.
But by the following morning, all focus returned to the watches, the brand’s heritage, and what its year is shaping up to look like. Seoul, as a city, receded, and the rest of the day became a study in how a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1832 continues to push forward – not with gimmicks or trend-chasing, but with quiet precision.
The morning was spent with the company’s upcoming and most recent product releases. At the centre of this was the Ultra-Chron Carbon – an update, yes, but a deliberate one that has its eyes looking forward, not back. The fan-favourite Ultra-Chron that debuted in 2023 returned with its high-frequency movement intact, but the stainless steel case is replaced by forged carbon. The new material gives the watch a modern edge, while respecting the history that allowed it to exist in the first place. The message: modern performance meets traditional technique.
But the real insight came directly from Matthias Breschan, CEO of Longines, whom I had the chance to sit down and speak with again (I last met him in his Saint-Imier office). He wasn’t rushed, and he wasn’t selling. The tone was matter-of-fact, and the conversation revealed a man who’s been thinking deeply about what the brand is that he’s leading – and what it isn’t.
When asked which collections were driving success, Breschan pointed away from what’s typical in the industry. “Today, more or less all watch brands have their best-selling styles as a diving watch or a pilot’s watch, but for Longines, still, the classic watches – and in particular, the Master Collection – remain our number one collection, which is quite surprising.”
That’s not how many brands position themselves in 2025, because it’s not how hype works. But Longines isn’t interested in ever-shifting micro-trends. It’s building momentum around consistency.
The same is true in its women’s collections. “We actually reduced the number of collections but increased the volume we’re selling in our ladies’ lines, and these collections are literally exploding in all countries,” Breschan said. “Before, you could have said the PrimaLuna was more of an Asian success, and the DolceVita was more of a European, American, or Australian success. But that’s no longer the case – both are now selling very well everywhere.”
One after another, he listed the brand’s current wins. The Spirit Zulu Time – which debuted in 2022 – became “a huge success in all countries.” And then there was the Conquest: “I think the new Conquest was our biggest success in terms of volume within one year. We renewed the whole collection, and I think we’ve never had a newly launched collection succeed at this level within just 12 months.”
One of the more interesting parts of the conversation was the revelation that Longines isn’t just building new things – it’s still uncovering parts of itself. “We very recently discovered something new, relating to our high-frequency movements, which revolutionised precision in timekeeping,” Breschan shared.
What they found was evidence of a high-frequency chronograph from as early as 1910, allowing sports timing to a tenth of a second, earlier than previously known. “We’re now verifying all the details before making it public, but this is the beauty of the brand – after almost 200 years of history, we’re still discovering things like this.”
That sort of find might be trivia for a marketing department. For Longines, it becomes another chapter in its own story, offering fresh context and heavier weight to each new launch. It frames every boutique not as a storefront, but as a stage for this tale to be told.
“Around the world, we now have around 100 corporate boutiques and 150 franchised boutiques,” Breschan said. “It’s not our strategy to go 100% corporate or monobrand boutiques, not at all.” The reason for these stores isn’t about having a presence in luxury precincts around the world – it’s about storytelling. “For us, monobrand stores are a way to showcase our entire history and heritage […] which is impossible in multibrand environments, where you only get one or two displays.”
That history, he noted, is still under-recognised. “Many people still don’t know Longines invented the GMT movement, the flyback movement, or the turning bezel.”
As for the digital strategy, it’s still measured. “Yes, it’s still around [5–10%],” Breschan said of online sales, “but what’s growing is the combination of online and offline. Customers can now pre-select watches online before they go into the store, knowing that the five or ten pieces they’ve selected will be ready for them to try on at their chosen time and location.”
Then came the question he couldn’t quite answer. Of all the upcoming releases, which one was he most excited about? “There are two we haven’t unveiled yet that I’m very excited about,” he said. And that was all.
Longines isn’t pivoting, nor is it reinventing. It’s refining, iterating, and cutting closer to its core. You don’t survive for 192 years in this business by being first to react. You do it by being last to flinch.
