Longines making presence felt in sports
WHILE there are myriads of watch manufacturers, only a few can brag about being the specialist in sport timekeeping.
And Swiss luxury watchmaker – Longines – has to be one of them.
The world-renowned brand is certainly making its presence felt in the ongoing Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as official timekeeper.
It marks Longines’ third collaboration with the quadrennial Games, having also provided their expertise in the last edition in Glasgow in 2014 and the Perth Games in 1962.
With a 250-member strong team of engineers and technicians on duty across all competition venues in Gold Coast, Longines plays a crucial role in delivering the best experience for the spectators, broadcasters, media personnel and a cumulative global television audience of up to 1.5 billion people.
In the world of sports, every second counts. And that’s why Longines leaves no stone unturned by deploying tons of state-of-theart equipment to ensure each score, time and result is precisely measured, recorded, displayed and distributed.
One of the most impressive timekeeping devices is the Quantum Timer, which is capable of measuring down to a millionth of a second! Surely, there’s no sport that can’t be measured by Longines.
Longines’ involvement in sports timekeeping can be traced back to the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens. With a manual stopwatch, Longines became the official timekeeper for the first modern Olympics.
The watchmaker had also timed the 1972 Munich Games and the Formula One for 10 years from 1982.
Longines is presently being recognised for the other events linkup, notably as the official partner of the French Open tennis championships since 2007.
The brand also remains a longterm partner in sports such as equestrian, gymnastics, alpine skiing and archery on the international stage.
In Gold Coast, Longines serves the Commonwealth Games more than just as official timekeeper. They are also the presenting part- ner of athletics, gymnastics, rugby sevens, table tennis and the preGames Baton Run.
Longines vice- president and head of international marketing Juan-Carlos Capelli has hailed the collaboration between Longines and the Commonwealth Games as a match made in heaven.
“Both Longines and the Commonwealth Games have a long history and surely we complement each other well,” Capelli told Starsport recently.
“We’re honoured to be associated with the Games, which is one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
“We’re really proud that the organisers have placed their trust in our brand and have chosen us to time the Games.
“Longines is one of the few watch companies in the world who can do sports timekeeping.”
Longines has also set up Longines Records Club on the famed Broadbeach to honour the outstanding achievers at the Games.
The world and Games record breakers were presented with a personal certificate of achievement and a donation in the athlete’s name to UNICEF. been an The official rewarded world Conquest record handsomely holders V.H.P. (very have with high precision) Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games watch.
Malaysia’s weightlifters Mohd Azroy Hazalwafie Izhar Ahmad and Muhd Aznil Bidin were among the early group of athletes to grace the ceremony.
The duo rewrote Games records en route to winning their 56kg and 62kg categories respectively.
Hats off to Longines, the brand’s efforts are truly a tribute to performance – which echoes the tagline of the exceptional Conquest V.H.P timepiece.