COVID-19 hit Longines hard but the Swiss watch brand has bounced back. Sales were so strong last year that even a 100 million Swiss franc (S$150 million) loss in foreign exchange, no thanks to the sharp appreciation in Switzerland’s currency, did little to dent its performance, according to Longines’ CEO Matthias Breschan, speaking at the unveiling of the brand’s 2024 novelties earlier this month.

Longines is owned by Swatch and like all watch brands in the group’s stable, doesn’t reveal its exact sales and profit figures. But publicly listed Swatch, highlighting a “hugely currency impact”, reported overall net sales rose 5.2 per cent on current exchange rates to CHF 7.9 billion in 2023, far below the 12.6 per cent jump at constant rates. Still, it tipped Longines, along with Swatch and Tissot, to continue to develop strongly in the lower and medium price segments. 

Breschan is holding onto his sales target for Longines to “pass CHF 2 billion” in 2025, though Morgan Stanley has thrown cold water on it. Longines is on the US investment bank’s list of top 10 biggest watch brands for 2023, with an estimated turnover of CHF 1.1 billion. Can Longines double in a year what it has taken 191 years to attain? Breschan’s reply: “They (Morgan Stanley) are totally wrong. We’re much bigger (than Morgan Stanley’s estimate).”