Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Emanuele Gaudiano: here is the podium at the end of a highly fought competition held in the glamorous setting of the Port d’Hercule in Montecarlo. The 7^th stage of a championship, the Longines Global Champions Tour, that will arrive in Italy too, mid september in Rome, that sees Longines, that has a longstanding connection with the world of equestrian sports and jumping in this case, as the organizing partner of the event.

The competition took place saturday afternoon the 27^th in a small arena placed in the harbour of Monaco and we were lucky enough to attend the event, as guests of the brand, sitting in their big booth placed just at one of the arena’s four sides, while at the opposite one were sitting Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charlotte Casiraghi.

Thanks to this invite I also had the chance to meet and interview Mr. Charles Villot, Longines Vice-President, and to talk with him about watches, the company’s strategy, the brand’s future positioning and the importance of the Italian market and, last but not least, about a few other important topics, like my personal request for a Longines Twenty-Four-Hour split seconds chronograph, at least as a limited edition timepiece, something that seems to be under discussion at Longines at the moment. When I told Mr. Villot about my idea he started laughing (it might sound a bit bizarre but this is something that he actually declared himself: he’d love to make such a timepiece very soon but, at the moment, there’s absolutely no confirmation whatsoever that such a timepiece is currently being developed.)

During my visit I also discovered equestrian sports and horse jumping and found them to be quite thrilling and very interesting activities, something that I hadn’t expected at all.

As usual, while having dinner with the Italian friends of the brand, I took my camera out and took some pictures of the Longines Conquest Heritage that the brand’s Italian PR Manager was wearing. The item was a 35mm wide automatic three-hand-timepiece with date at 12 o’clock and it featured dauphine hands, applied doubled markers and a hesalite crystal.

A true beauty with a perfect vintage looking dial, which would sit extremely well both around a woman’s or a man’s wrist. The particular style of this timepiece represents, in my opinion, the core collection of the brand: the widely acclaimed “Heritage collection”. Thumbs up to the beautifully detailed case back, which sports a “Super Compressor” like case, something we have discussed before in our article about the Longines Heritage Legend Diver (you may find here).

Many thanks to Longines for a classy and relaxed event in a glamorous location (in my personal ranking it was on par with the recent Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este) as well as for a perfect organization. Horbiter is looking forward to covering Longines next event, (hopefully, while skiing).

(Photo credit: courtesy of Longines; Horbiter®’s proprietary photo-shooting)

Gaetano C. @Horbiter®

@Gaetano Cimmino