Misplaced Pages

#250749

57-534: Longines was founded in Saint-Imier in 1832 by Auguste Agassiz , a Swiss watchmaker and brother of biologist Louis Agassiz . Auguste had two partners, lawyers Henri Raiguel and Florian Morel; the company's original name was Raiguel Jeune & Cie . By 1846, Raigeul and Morel had retired from the watch industry, leaving Agassiz as sole company head. Several years later, Agassiz brought in his bright, enterprising nephew, trained economist Ernest Francillon , into

114-448: A Fachhochschule ). Of the 438 who completed tertiary schooling, 60.5% were Swiss men, 20.5% were Swiss women, 11.0% were non-Swiss men and 8.0% were non-Swiss women. The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten , followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following

171-575: A different mother language than the classroom language. As of 2000 , there were 396 students in Saint-Imier who came from another municipality, while 126 residents attended schools outside the municipality. Saint-Imier is home to 2 libraries, the Haute école Arc – Ingénierie and the Bibliothèque régionale de St-Imier . There was a combined total (as of 2008 ) of 29,145 books or other media in

228-483: A different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 21 primary classes and 349 students. Of the primary students, 31.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 19.2% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 13 lower secondary classes with a total of 246 students. There were 19.1% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 15.9% have

285-428: A factory in the town in 1867. By the end of the year, 1,600 people were employed in 47 watchmaking companies. Because the town's economy was so dependent on watchmaking, the economic crisis of the 1930s and the 1970s hit Saint-Imier hard. By the beginning of the 21st century, there were about ten watchmaking companies and the economy had diversified to include dental and medical technology and meteorology. Portions of

342-1004: A global time system, which divides the day into 1000 "beats" in a single worldwide time zone . In October 2004, Swatch introduced its first smart watch, the Paparazzi, based on Microsoft Corporation's SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology.) The Swatch Group started offering their first class in the Nicolas G. Hayek Watchmaking School in Miami , Florida , in September 2005. There are other watchmaking schools in Glashütte , Germany; Pforzheim , Germany; Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia; and Shanghai , China. Swiss Timing, under brands such as Omega, Longines, and Tissot, provide timing services for sporting events such as Formula One , Olympic Games , Tour de France , and equestrian events. In 2018 it

399-458: A talented engineer. In addition, Francillon appointed David as Technical Director and put him in charge of the new factory. By 1867, it was also marked the year the Longines factory produced its first in-house watch movement , the 20A. The 20A, built with an anchor escapement (usually employed in pendulum clocks), was wound and set via a pendent crown. The innovative movement won an award at

456-611: A village grew up around the cella around the same time. Two of the 142 graves from the church have been dated to the Early Middle Ages and the church was rebuilt at least three times before the 14th or early 15th century. In 884 the cella with its outbuildings belonged to Moutier-Grandval Abbey . In 999, the Abbey donated Saint-Imier and a number of surrounding villages to the Prince-Bishop of Basel . In 1264,

513-606: Is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland . It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura ( Jura Bernois ). The Observatoire Astronomique de Mont-Soleil is located above the village. Saint-Imier is first mentioned in 884 as cella de sancti Himerii . The municipality was formerly known by its German name St. Immer , however, that name

570-649: Is designated as official timekeeper, partner, and watch for competitions worldwide including: Notable Longines brand ambassadors and timepieces owners include Humphrey Bogart , Harry Connick Jr. , Audrey Hepburn , Dr Nahum Sokolow , Aaron Kwok , Lin Chi-ling , Eddie Peng , Steffi Graf , Andre Agassi , Aishwarya Rai , Kate Winslet , Mikaela Shiffrin , Simon Baker , Jung Woo-sung , Bae Suzy , Barbara Palvin , and Jennifer Lawrence . Notable Longines historical figures include Saint-Imier Saint-Imier ( French pronunciation: [sɛ̃.t‿imje] )

627-443: Is no longer used. Its name refers to Imerius of Immertal , a 7th-century saint. According to the legend of St. Imerius, he settled in the valley as a hermit in the late 6th or early 7th century on a piece of land that bishop Marius of Lausanne gave him as a present. In 884 a cella (probably a church, farm and monastery) was mentioned on the site. Archeological excavations around the former Church of St. Martin indicate that

SECTION 10

#1732790421251

684-457: Is the largest watch company in the world and employs about 31,000 people in 50 countries. The group owns the Swatch product line and other luxury brands, including Blancpain , Breguet , Certina , ETA , Glashütte Original , Hamilton , Harry Winston , Longines , Mido , Omega , Rado , and Tissot . SSIH ( Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère ), originated in 1930 with the merger of

741-522: The 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris. Several years later, the U.S. watchmaking industry was making strides in industrialized watch manufacturing. Francillon sent Jacques David to the 1876 World's Fair in Philadelphia to gather new ideas and strategies from American watchmakers. Upon returning, David wrote a 108-page report detailing what he learned during his trip; the report is considered one of

798-622: The 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Social Democratic Party (SP) which received 26.4% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were the Swiss People's Party (SVP) (25.4%), and the FDP.The Liberals (18.2%). In the federal election, a total of 929 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 31.6%. Saint-Imier is the hometown of the Longines watchmaking company. The Breitling watchmaking company

855-576: The Diocese of Lausanne . The Saint-Imier parish was probably founded in the 9th or 10th century. A village chapel was first mentioned in 968, with the parish church of St. Martin first appearing in the records in 1228. The church of St. Martin was later rebuilt in the gothic style . Another church, the collegiate church was built in the 11th century, probably under the direction of the Bishop of Basel. In 1530, Biel encouraged Saint-Imier to embrace

912-660: The Omega and Tissot companies. Swiss watch quality was high, but new technology, such as the Hamilton Electric watch introduced in 1957 and the Bulova Accutron tuning fork watch in 1961, presaged increasing technological competition. In the late 1970s, SSIH became insolvent due in part to a recession and in part to heavy competition from inexpensive Asian-made quartz crystal watches. These difficulties occurred even though it had become Switzerland's largest, and

969-597: The Protestant Reformation and convert to the new religion. The collegiate church before the parish church for the new Reformed parish. Over the following centuries, the Church of St. Martin was used less and less until it was demolished in 1828. In 1814 the town and the surrounding valley transferred from Lausanne to the Diocese of Basel. Catholic church services resumed in Saint-Imier in 1857 and in 1866

1026-469: The Société Suisse de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie (SMH). SMH became The Swatch Group in 1988, and Longines continued without R&D and production activities of its own. In the 1990's, Swatch differentiated and repositioned its various brands in order to better compete in all market segments, with Omega becoming the high-end brand intended to compete with Rolex and Cartier , while Longines

1083-605: The Suze river and on the Biel/Bienne - La Chaux-de-Fonds road. The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Sable two Pales Or and overall on a Bar Argent a Mullet of Five Gules. Saint-Imier has a population (as of December 2020 ) of 5,156. As of 2010 , 23.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 4.2%. Migration accounted for 6.3%, while births and deaths accounted for -2.9%. Most of

1140-589: The Swiss Reformed Church , while 1,642 or 34.2% were Roman Catholic . Of the rest of the population, there were 22 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.46% of the population), there were 17 individuals (or about 0.35% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church , and there were 386 individuals (or about 8.03% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 161 (or about 3.35% of

1197-579: The neo-gothic Church of St. Martin was built. In 1912 a Christian Catholic church was built in the town. In 1792 Théodore Frédéric Louis Liomin, the vogt or bailiff of Saint-Imier, threw his support behind the revolutionary movement that was sweeping the region. After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio , Saint-Imier became part of the French Département of Mont-Terrible . Three years later, in 1800 it became part of

SECTION 20

#1732790421251

1254-408: The tertiary sector , with 164 businesses in this sector. There were 183 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 59.0% of the workforce. In 2008 there were a total of 2,069 full-time equivalent jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 46, of which 42 were in agriculture and 4 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in

1311-512: The 150th anniversary of the Saint-Imier Congress. The event included lectures, workshops, concerts, film screenings, theatre plays, exhibitions and a book fair. By the second day of the event, thousands of people had arrived in the town, causing logistical issues for the self-managed space. The event also caused some safety problems, as its campsite was located next to train tracks that campers often crossed over in order to get to

1368-403: The Bishop appointed Otto of Arguel (or Erguel ) as the vogt over the Saint-Imier valley fief . Otto raised the valley to become a seigniory and parish of the Diocese of Basel. By the end of the 15th century, Saint-Imier included the villages of Villeret , Sonvilier , Renan and La Ferriere . Even though the physical valley was owned by the Bishop of Basel, religiously it was part of

1425-728: The Département of Haut-Rhin . After Napoleon 's defeat and the Congress of Vienna , Saint-Imier was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815. During the 19th century the anti-authoritarian or anarchist movement gained a foothold in the region. In 1872, the Jura Federation , which had strong support in Saint-Imier, organized a congress in Saint-Imier at which the Anti-authoritarian International

1482-504: The Hour Angle aviation watch. In 1937, P.V.H. Weems again collaborated with Longines to produce a second, smaller (33mm) Weems avigation watch (reference 3930, 3931, and 4036). In 1953, Longines developed its first quartz movement . In 1954, Longines introduced a timekeeping instrument called Longines Chronocinegines. Notable Longines calibers: In 1983, Longines' owner ASUAG merged with SSIH (which owned Omega SA ) to form

1539-497: The Longines name in 1880 and its winged hourglass logo in 1889. By 1886, Longines had established itself as a primary supplier of timing equipment for most New York sporting officials. Notable Longines calibers: In 1927, P.V.H. Weems collaborated with Longines to produce the first wrist watch, the Weems Avigation watch. The watch was 48 mm in diameter. In 1931, Longines collaborated with Charles Lindbergh to introduce

1596-413: The built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.2%. Out of the forested land, 34% of the total land area is heavily forested and 6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.7% is used for growing crops and 20% is pastures and 27% is used for alpine pastures. The municipality is located in the Saint-Imier valley along

1653-424: The business. Francillon was the mastermind behind several impressive innovations that would distinguish the company from its competitors. One early stroke of genius from Francillon was to solely produce crown-wound pocket watches rather than the prevalent key-wound alternative. Later, when Agassiz started suffering from ill health, he passed leadership to Francillon. Under Francillon, the company began segueing out of

1710-533: The construction rate of new housing units was 1.3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, in 2011 , was 4.5%. The historical population is given in the following chart: The Collégiale and the Longines Watch factory are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance . The entire urban village of Saint-Imier is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites . In

1767-486: The district of Courtelary , the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, a new district (or arrondissement administratif ) of Jura bernois was created, which includes all of the former Courtelary District , as well as the former district of La Neuveville and the area around Tavannes . On 19 July 2023, hundreds of anarchists began arriving in Saint-Imier to participate in an international anarchist gathering, in celebration of

Longines - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-507: The event location, despite attempts by the event organisers to stop them. In order to guarantee safety, the Swiss Federal Railways halted all rail traffic between Saint-Imier and La Chaux-de-Fonds over the weekend, organising replacement bus services in order to maintain the public transit network. The event would end up counting 5,000 attendees, mostly people in their early twenties, who were reportedly warmly welcomed by

1881-417: The fourth tier of Swiss hockey. Their home arena is the 3,000-seat Erguël Arena. The Swatch Group The Swatch Group Ltd is a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery. The company was founded in 1983 through the merger of ASUAG and SSIH , moving to manufacturing quartz-crystal watches to resolve the quartz crisis threatening the traditional Swiss watchmaking industry. The Swatch Group

1938-547: The libraries, and in the same year a total of 41,777 items were loaned out. The municipality has a railway station, St-Imier . The station is located on the Biel/Bienne–La Chaux-de-Fonds line and has half-hourly service to Biel/Bienne and La Chaux-de-Fonds . Mont Soleil can be reached with Funiculaire Saint-Imier-Mont-Soleil  [ fr ] . HC Sainti Bats plays in the Première Ligue ,

1995-408: The lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship . During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 695 students attending classes in Saint-Imier. There were 5 kindergarten classes with a total of 100 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 27.0% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 33.0% have

2052-559: The most significant documents in watchmaking history, detailing the inner workings of American watch factories, including the entire production process, from raw materials to finished watches, and the highly-effective internal structure and quality control measures implemented in American factories. In his analysis, David concluded the Swiss watchmaking industry needed to change significantly to keep pace with its American competitors. Longines

2109-423: The municipality and 802 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.0 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 11.3% of the workforce coming into Saint-Imier are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 10.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 53.3% used a private car. From the 2000 census , 1,989 or 41.4% belonged to

2166-429: The municipality. There were 2,242 married individuals, 447 widows or widowers and 276 individuals who are divorced. As of 2000 , there were 916 households that consist of only one person and 86 households with five or more people. In 2000 , a total of 2,190 apartments (78.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 362 apartments (13.0%) were seasonally occupied and 223 apartments (8.0%) were empty. As of 2010 ,

2223-462: The population (as of 2000 ) speaks French (4,049 or 84.2%) as their first language, German is the second most common (315 or 6.6%) and Italian is the third (183 or 3.8%). There are 2 people who speak Romansh . As of 2008 , the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 1,682 Swiss men (35.3% of the population) and 612 (12.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,947 Swiss women (40.8%) and 530 (11.1%) non-Swiss women. Of

2280-600: The population in the municipality, 1,486 or about 30.9% were born in Saint-Imier and lived there in 2000. There were 1,072 or 22.3% who were born in the same canton, while 1,040 or 21.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,028 or 21.4% were born outside of Switzerland. As of 2010 , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 21.2%. As of 2000 , there were 1,842 people who were single and never married in

2337-536: The population) who were Islamic . There were 4 individuals who were Buddhist , 1 person who was Hindu and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 617 (or about 12.84% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist , and 156 individuals (or about 3.25% of the population) did not answer the question. In Saint-Imier about 1,696 or (35.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education , and 438 or (9.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university or

Longines - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-598: The secondary sector was 1,024 of which 879 or (85.8%) were in manufacturing and 81 (7.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 999. In the tertiary sector; 184 or 18.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 29 or 2.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 48 or 4.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 40 or 4.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 44 or 4.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 101 or 10.1% were in education and 437 or 43.7% were in health care. In 2000 , there were 1,624 workers who commuted into

2451-434: The town were destroyed by fire in 1839, 1843 and 1856. A hospital opened in Saint-Imier in 1856. In 1874 the town was connected to the Swiss rail network. The town's infrastructure was modernized early, before 1900 it had municipal water, gas and electricity. Saint-Imier has grown into a regional education center. The town's secondary school opened in 1860, followed by a watchmaker's school in 1866. The watch-maker's school

2508-458: The town's population. Saint-Imier mayor Corentin Jeanneret reported that the event went largely smoothly, with the exception of a few cases of graffiti. Saint-Imier has an area of 20.87 km (8.06 sq mi). Of this area, 49% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 40% is forested. Of the rest, 9.3% of the total is buildings or roads, and 0.7%of the total is unproductive. Of

2565-482: The world's third largest, producer of watches. Its creditor banks assumed control in 1981. ASUAG ( Allgemeine Gesellschaft der Schweizerischen Uhrenindustrie ), formed in 1931, was the world's largest producer of watch movements and the parts thereof ( balance wheels , balance springs , assortments, watch stones ("jewels")). ASUAG had also integrated an array of watch brands in 1972 into a sub-holding company, General Watch Co . ASUAG failed similarly in 1982. ASUAG/SSIH

2622-407: The établissage system and moved towards more modern production methods. Francillon solidified his firm's progression to mass production in 1867 by establishing his first factory. Its location, an area in southern St. Imier known locally as Les Longines ("long meadows"), gave rise to the Longines name. To help further his efforts to improve the production at Longines, Francillon brought on Jacques David,

2679-934: Was acquired on 26 March 2013 for 711 million Swiss francs . Nayla Hayek became the CEO. The company bought the world's biggest flawless blue diamond, The Winston Blue , on 15 May 2014. The following list includes the brands owned by the Swatch Group: Swatch subsidiary ETA SA , which is based in Grenchen, Switzerland , furnishes many OEM brands, such as LVMH (which markets TAG Heuer , Hublot and Zenith watch lines) and Richemont (which markets amongst others, A. Lange & Söhne , Baume & Mercier , IWC Schaffhausen , Jaeger-LeCoultre , Officine Panerai , Piaget , Roger Dubuis , Vacheron Constantin ). The Swatch Group Electronic System includes: In 1998, Swatch invented " Swatch Internet Time ", intended as

2736-631: Was announced that The Swatch Group would hold its own watch fair in Zurich, during Baselworld 2019. In 1994, Swatch entered into a joint venture with Germany's Daimler AG to produce the Smart car, but they later withdrew from this project. Swatch subsidiary Belenos Clean Power AG entered into a joint venture with the Paul Scherrer Institut in May 2008 to develop a hydrogen fuel cell for

2793-497: Was expanded into a machinist's school in 1896 and a technical vocational school in 1961. In 1976 it became a school of engineering and in 2005 it was integrated into the Haute école Arc/Hochschule Arc. A number of other schools opened in the town including the Bernese Jura Music School (1981), a vocational and technical school (1997), and a training center for health professionals (1993). On 31 December 2009,

2850-464: Was formed in 1983 from the two financially troubled predecessor companies, ASUAG and SSIH. Taken private in 1985 by then-CEO Nicolas Hayek , with the understanding of the Swiss banks and the financial assistance of a group of Swiss private investors (in particular Stephan Schmidheiny and Esther Grether ), it was renamed SMH (Société de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie) in 1986, and ultimately Swatch Group Ltd in 1998. The " swatch " brand of watch

2907-475: Was founded in Saint-Imier, but moved to Grenchen , Canton of Solothurn . As of  2011 , Saint-Imier had an unemployment rate of 3.59%. As of 2008 , there were a total of 2,483 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 61 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 1,102 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 57 businesses in this sector. 1,320 people were employed in

SECTION 50

#1732790421251

2964-480: Was founded. During the 18th century the inhabitants of the valley gradually gave up agriculture in favor of more lucrative jobs in the watch and lace-making industries. The first watch parts workshop opened in the 1720s and the industry continued to expand throughout the 19th century. By 1817 there were about 200 workers employed in either watchmaking workshops or small shops at home. The small scale workshops were replaced by large factory work, when Longines opened

3021-744: Was launched in 1983, by the ETA SA CEO Ernst Thomke and his engineers. The quartz watch was redesigned for manufacturing efficiency and fewer parts, and the styling and design were updated. Over the years, the Swatch Group acquired various luxury watchmaking companies, including Blancpain S. A. (founded 1735, bought by Swatch in 1992), Breguet S. A. (founded 1775, bought in 1999), and Glashütte Original (Germany, bought in 2000). The company continued to produce watches under these names. HW Holding Inc., owner of Harry Winston, Inc. , an American jewellery and luxury watch company,

3078-456: Was positioned in a less-expensive segment, its watches redesigned as objects of elegance and classicism, emphasizing the historical tradition of manufacture, as opposed to the craft of watchmaking. In 2019, Longines licensed its name and branding to Marcolin for a collection of men's and women's optical frames and sunglasses. Longines began using the slogan "Elegance is an Attitude" in 1999. Their previous slogan, "The World's Most Honoured Watch"

3135-404: Was the world's first watch trademark and the first Swiss company to assemble watches under one roof. In 1878, Longines developed its first chronograph movement, the 20H, a "mono-pusher" chronograph, in which all 3 chronograph functions (start, stop, and reset) were controlled via the crown. With the 20H, Longines could produce stopwatches suitable for precise timing in professional events. This

3192-658: Was used for most of the 20th century. The Longines Logo is the oldest registered trade mark still in use in its original form registered with the World Intellectual Property Organization . Since Longines developed its first chronograph movement in 1878, the brand has steadily built strong relationships with various sporting organizations, events and teams worldwide. First came horse racing, then additional equestrian sports such as show jumping , endurance riding and eventing (a "triathlon" of dressage , cross-country, jumping). Today, Longines

3249-425: Was when Longines began building its reputation in equestrian sports , such as horse racing and jumping. By 1880, Longines was known for the quality and precision of its timepieces. To Francillon's dismay, the brand became a target for counterfeiters. Longines counterfeits were not only directly stealing business and revenue from Francillon, but also potentially damaging his company's reputation. Francillon trademarked

#250749