Longines | Mallard Jewellers

Pre-Owned Longines Watches

If you’re looking for a timepiece that evokes a sense of tradition and charm, a Longines watch will be the perfect fit. Making watches for almost 200 years, the Swiss brand has continued to captivate enthusiasts from all over the world; all thanks to their dedication to contemporary design, with a classic twist.

Here at Mallard, we are pleased to present our range of pre-owned Longines watches – no matter if you’re looking to wear, collect or invest in a timepiece by this sophisticated brand, our luxury second-hand watches are available at affordable prices to suit whatever your budget may be.

Why Choose Pre-Owned Longines Watches?

Purchasing a pre-owned watch provides several benefits over buying brand-new. Primarily, you will receive better value – as soon as any new watch is taken out of a store, its value will vastly degenerate. By buying second-hand you’ll be paying a price that will remain stable – if the particular piece is well-looked after in the years to come, it may well grow to be worth more than you paid for it.

Buying pre-owned watches will also provide you with access to a wider range of choice. Whilst new watches may be technically brilliant, there is no way of knowing what their value will be in the future – this is why collectors and investors choose vintage watches. Having already stood the test of time, there are existing markets for older models to be valued and sold in.

In regards to pre-owned Longines watches, great reasons to purchaseinclude:

Legacy and heritage. For the best part of two centuries, Longines has maintained its legacy and heritage with its quality and design. This has ensured that, although their models have been updated to changing market demands and new technology, they keep that sense of tradition they became famous for.
Built to last. A sure-fire sign of any great watch is its durability. One of the major reasons why Longines watches have been used in pursuits such as aviation and sport is because they have been purposely built-to-last. All Longines timepieces are built by hand and maintain that balance between traditional style/technique, with modern innovation.
Made with high-quality materials. Featuring hundreds of tiny parts that are required to function flawlessly for the device to work, all pre-owned Longines watches are made with high-quality craftsmanship, from high-quality materials.

Longines: An History of Innovation

Founded in 1832 by Auguste Agassiz, along with his partners, Henri Raiguel and Florian Morel, the original name of the company was ‘Raiguel Jeune & Cie’. By 1846, both Reigeul and Morel retired, leaving Agassiz as the sole head of the company.

A few years later, Agassiz gave a position to his enterprising nephew, trained economist, Ernest Francillon. The young man would become the mastermind of a number of the company’s innovations that established it as a leading watchmaker. One of his early ideas was for the company to produce crown-wound pocket watches, rather than the key-wound alternatives – a time-saving device that helped to sell a vast number of their watches.

Francillon took charge of the business when Agassiz retired due to ill health, strengthening the company’s position in the market by establishing a factory for mass production in 1867. The location of the factory, an area of St. Imier known locally as ‘Les Longines’ (long meadows) eventually saw the company adopt the name it carries to this day.

Longines developed their first chronograph movement (the 20H) in 1878; this ‘mono-pusher’ chronograph contained three functions that allowed time to be started, stopped and reset via the crown control. The 20H allowed them to produce stopwatches for professional sporting events, immediately drawing interest from equestrian sports such as horse racing and jumping[i]. Today, some of these models are the most sought-after pre-owned Longines watches around.

A decade later, the company were well known for the quality and precision and with all things that lead the way, imitation follows. Dismayed at the brand becoming a target for counterfeiters, Francillon trademarked the Longines name in 1880 and the firm’s winged hourglass logo in 1889. In fact, the logo is the oldest unchanged (yet still active) registered trademark in the world.

After writing to the company in the late 1920s, describing a watch that would make navigation easier for pilots, the famed aviator, Charles Lindbergh, worked with Longines to produce such a watch. Released in 1931, the Longines Weems (named after P.V.H Weems, another famed aviator who was assigned by the US Navy to teach Lindbergh celestial navigation), it helped the brand to become synonymous with careful and precise timing in the fast-growing aviation industry.

Today, Longines are well-known for their use in sporting events; as the official timekeeper of French Open tennis, their brand name is seen by millions around the world every year – actors Kate Winslet and Simon Baker being amongst their brand ambassadors.

Mallard – A Wide Selection of High-Quality Pre-Owned Jewellery

Aside from this online store, we have several branches located across Essex, the East Midlands and in Cambridgeshire. So whether you’re in-or-around Southend-on-Sea, Nottingham or Peterborough, please feel free to come and visit us to see our range of pre-owned Longines watches for yourself. Click here to access our store locator to find your nearest Mallard Jewellers outlet.

If you have any questions that you would like to ask about any aspect of our sale of second-hand watches, do not hesitate to give our friendly customer service team a call today on 01268 534 343. You can also send us an e-mail by filling out the form on our contact page.