69
| WATCH YOUR TIME
FOCUS
F O C U S
Pioneering Spirit
Longines’s pioneering spirit is threaded
right through its history, pushing the
boundaries across many different spheres
of activity, but nowhere more so than in
terms of aviation and travel, pursuits that
proudly inspire its Spirit Pilot and Spirit
Zulu Time collections.
Launched in 2020, the Spirit collection pays tribute
to Longines’ illustrious past, in particular the watches
and instruments it made for the aviation pioneers in
the early 20th century. For this year, the collection has
a redesigned aesthetic that favours optimal usability
and re-engineered for improved reliability. The watch is
presented in more vintage-style sizes; 39 mm in diam-
eter for the three-hand model and 39.5 mm for the fly-
back chronograph. The latter, developed for pilots, holds
particular significance for Longines as it was the com-
pany that invented the function, producing the first in
the early 1930s and filing the patent applications in 1935,
which were granted in 1936.
While the Spirit Pilot three-hander is self-wind-
ing, like most mechanical watches today, the Spirit
Pilot Flyback features a new hand-wound movement,
made exclusively for Longines. “These two watches
are equipped with state-of-the-art movements,” says
CEO Patrick Aoun. “They symbolise our watchmaking
house, whose strength lies in being authentic, credible,
and renowned, while offering very high-quality prod-
ucts at an excellent price-to-value ratio.”
Centenary
And if you’re talking about aviation, you’re also talking
about travel, a sphere in which Longines has an exten-
sive history stretching back to the early 20th Century
and the celebrated Turkish Watches; pocket watches
with dual time zones that were commissioned by the
Ottoman Empire in 1908. The first of their kind, they
showed both Western and Turkish time via two pairs
of hands and concentric scales and were the subject
of a patent in 1911. The wristwatch version dates back
to 1925, exactly 100 years ago. Designed for the Royal
Canadian Navy, it was the world’s first dual-time wrist-
watch, and bore a name that resonated in aviation and
maritime circles alike: Zulu Time.
The term “Zulu” comes from the NATO phonetic
alphabet, a radio code created to ease international
communication, in which it represents the letter Z —
as in Zero. On a Longines watch, Zulu Time is zero hour,
Greenwich Mean Time, or in current terms, UTC +0. The
original Zulu Time from 1925 lived up to its name by
simultaneously displaying local time and Greenwich
time — and did so using the maritime signal flag for the
letter Z, depicted on the dial.
Longines revived the name Zulu Time for the dual-
time watches in its Spirit collection, launched in 2022.
Unmistakably modern, these Spirit Zulu Time models
feature a second time zone displayed via a bi-direc-
tional rotating bezel marked in 24 hours. To celebrate
the invention’s 100th anniversary, the brand is intro-
ducing a special commemorative edition, the Spirit Zulu
Time 1925. It comes in a 39 mm steel case with, for the
first time in the collection, a solid rose gold insert on the
bezel. Rose gold, which contains copper, was chosen as
a nod to the copper strip marking the Prime Meridian at
the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, built 350 years ago.
Echoing this, the matte black dial is accented with rose
gold hands and details, notably the five stars that recall
a historic Longines system for grading movements in its
workshops, with five stars signifying the most refined.
These appear beneath the tone-on-tone ‘1925 – 2025’
legend that flanks the date window at six o’clock. This
anniversary edition also becomes the first Spirit Zulu
Time to feature a transparent caseback, revealing an
oscillating weight engraved with a planisphere bisected
by the Greenwich meridian.
With its vintage proportions and bi-metal construc-
tion, the Spirit Zulu Time 1925 aligns perfectly with
today’s tastes. “This new watch perfectly celebrates
Longines’ innovation and pioneering spirit. Our herit-
age informs what we do, and we embrace technologi-
cal advances without turning away from contemporary
design trends,” explains Patrick Aoun. The 100th anni-
versary is also marked by a new advertising campaign
in which Longines ambassador Henry Cavill asks a fit-
ting question: What time is it over there? ■ Éric Dumatin
1. LONGINES Spirit Pilot Flyback. Housed in a 39 mm steel case,
the 2025 Spirit Pilot Flyback debuts calibre L792.4, a hand-wound,
COSC-certified chronograph movement made exclusively for Lon-
gines that’s visible through a sapphire caseback. The flyback func-
tion is displayed on a high-legibility, black dial with gilt accents,
giving it the appeal and style of a vintage pilot’s watch. A bi-di-
rectional rotating bezel for countdowns completes the design and
it is offered on either a steel bracelet or a leather strap.
2. LONGINES Spirit Zulu 1925. Set in a 39 mm steel case, the
Spirit Zulu Time 1925 pays tribute to the first dual-time wristwatch
Longines created a century ago. A rose gold insert on the rotating
bezel recalls the original and it’s paired with a fourth hand that
tracks a second time zone over 24 hours. While the anniversary
edition shares the high-precision L844.4 calibre with the rest of
the Spirit Zulu range, it is the first to showcase it through a dec-
orated sapphire caseback. The watch is delivered in a presenta-
tion box with both a steel bracelet and NATO strap.
PATRICK AOUN | CEO LONGINES