Longines’ winged hourglass is a record-holder — the oldest unchanged registered logo in use.

Longines’ identity is the “LONGINES” wordmark (an elegant serif) paired with the winged hourglass — a small hourglass with outstretched wings. And it holds a genuine record: Ernest Francillon registered the winged hourglass on 27 May 1889 with the Swiss Federal Office for Intellectual Property (international protection followed in 1893), making it the oldest registered trademark still in use in its original, unchanged form in the WIPO international registers. (An important nuance: the symbol was used earlier, from around 1867, as an anti-counterfeiting quality mark, but the registration is 1889 — don’t conflate the two dates. The wordmark’s exact typeface is undocumented, so treat font names as guesses.)

Longines was founded in 1832 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, by Auguste Agassiz (a watch comptoir, or trading workshop, that he partnered into and later led). His nephew Ernest Francillon took over around 1852 and built the unified factory (around 1866–67) on land near a place called “Les Longines” — and that place-name is the origin of the brand’s name (it means, roughly, “long, narrow fields/meadows” in local dialect). Longines’ character is elegance (its motto, since 1999, is “Elegance is an attitude”), backed by a deep heritage in sports timing and aviation: it timed Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 transatlantic flight, after which he co-designed the Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch (produced by Longines), and it has long-standing associations with early aviation (Amelia Earhart) and, today, equestrian sport. Longines is part of the Swatch Group, positioned as accessible, entry-level Swiss luxury.

Longines pairs blue with gold. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Longines is strongly associated with blue — a refined, elegant blue that reads across its branding and many of its dials — supported by gold (the winged hourglass, warm accents) and black-and-white. It’s a classic, dressy palette that suits the brand’s “elegance” positioning: blue for refinement and trust, gold for a note of heritage and quality. The honest caveat: Longines publishes no official brand hex, so the blues and golds here are approximate. The palette does exactly what the brand wants — it looks elegant, accessible and timeless, the visual equivalent of a well-dressed classic watch that doesn’t shout.

The lesson is a palette that embodies a single positioning word. Longines built its whole identity around elegance, and its refined blue-and-gold palette expresses that promise directly — colour chosen to feel poised and classic rather than trendy. For designers, it’s a reminder that when a brand owns one clear attribute (here, elegance), every element, including the palette, should reinforce it. The takeaways: let your core positioning word guide your colours (refined blue-and-gold for elegance); keep it timeless if your promise is classic rather than fashionable; and present specific hexes as approximate when no official spec is published.

The wordmark is an elegant serif — poised and classic.

Longines’ elegant serif wordmark is the typographic embodiment of “elegance is an attitude.” Refined, classic and poised, it signals heritage, quality and taste without a hint of flash — exactly the register for a brand that positions itself as accessible, timeless Swiss elegance. Paired with the winged hourglass (a symbol of time, aspiration and flight), it forms an identity that feels both dignified and approachable. The serif reads as tradition and refinement; the overall restraint keeps it from ever looking trendy, which protects the “timeless elegance” promise. (Because the exact face is undocumented, the honest description is “an elegant serif,” not a named font.) The typography behaves like the brand: poised, classic and quietly confident.

Longines’ great asset is a logo it never had to change.

Longines is a lesson in the value of consistency. Its winged hourglass isn’t just a pretty emblem — it’s the oldest registered trademark still in use in its original, unchanged form, protected since 1889. That continuity is itself a powerful brand story: a mark so well-conceived that it never needed reinvention, backed by a genuine heritage in sports timing and aviation (Lindbergh, Earhart, decades of event timekeeping). Combined with a clear positioning — elegance — and a refined blue-and-gold, serif identity, Longines has one of watchmaking’s most stable and coherent brands.

For designers, Longines offers a genuinely useful takeaway: a well-designed, meaningful mark is an asset you can keep for over a century. The lessons: consistency compounds — a logo you never have to change (the winged hourglass since 1889) accumulates enormous recognition and trust; a clear positioning word (elegance) should guide every element, from the serif wordmark to the palette; and a meaningful emblem (an hourglass with wings, symbolising time and aspiration) resonates more than an arbitrary one. It’s also a reminder to state records precisely — the winged hourglass was used from ~1867 but registered in 1889, and it’s the oldest unchanged registered trademark still in use, not simply “the oldest trademark ever.” Longines turned a beautifully-conceived, never-changed emblem into a record-holding identity — proof that the most valuable logo can be the one you never have to redraw.

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