Longines Watch Company: Madrid's Oldest Mark

Never modified, continually used, the winged hourglass logo of the Longines watch-making company is the oldest valid trademark in the International Registry at WIPO. Originally registered in Switzerland in 1889, the Longines trademark was filed under the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks in 1893. Then in its infancy, the Madrid Agreement counted only six member States: Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. The Longines trademark was the fourteenth application filed in the Registry, but the preceding thirteen marks have lapsed in the intervening years.

The company adopted the name Longines in 1867 when Mr. Ernest Francillon brought his family's watch-making skills together under one roof in a new factory in Les Longines, Switzerland. From then on, the Longines winged hourglass was engraved on all timepieces made by the company to ensure brand recognition. Today each Longines watch bears the original trademark on the back, and an updated version on the face.

The Longines story, however, is about more than its trademark. It is about brand building by continually innovating and creating unique designs; and about business acumen in using the intellectual property system to protect and market the product. Longines is an instructive case study in the successful exploitation of multiple forms of intellectual property - patents for invention, design, trademarks and geographical indications.

Ticking off the innovations

The company reports some 160 patents for new watch movements and technical innovations in Switzerland. Longines also figures among users of the of the WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system, which simplifies patent applications in multiple countries.

From the start, Longines placed a premium on innovation. Watches used to be wound by means of a key. Longines invented the now ubiquitous, integrated crown mechanism for winding and setting the time when the company produced its first watch at Les Longines. Mr. Francillon presented the watch, already bearing the hourglass trademark, at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he received a bronze medal for the invention.

When watches went from waistcoats to wrists, Longines was the first to produce a wristwatch mechanically in 1905. In 1979 the Longines "Feuille d'Or" model became the world's thinnest watch, measuring only...