Imagine being selected to judge a contest of fine watches and finding a counterfeit of your own company’s product! That’s exactly what happened to Adrien Philippe at the Universal Exposition in Antwerp in 1885, and the resulting furor (including government sanctions and a high-profile court case) laid the foundation for anti-counterfeiting measures to this day. Incredibly, the perpetrator of this fake (labeled “Pateck & Cie, Genève”) was a respected watch trader, Armand Schwob, who insisted that it was Patek Philippe that was in the wrong. Let’s take a look at the “Affaire Pateck-Schwob”!
Is Longines the World’s Oldest Watch Brand?
Longines has long claimed to be “the oldest trademark or logo still in use,” and after researching the history of the Longines factory I became intrigued by this claim. Although it is certainly a long-running and successful company, was today’s Longines really the oldest watch brand, let alone the world’s oldest trademark? And what about all those others?
The Rise of Mass-Produced Watches at Les Longines, Saint-Imier
Longines isn’t just the name of the biggest watchmaker in Saint-Imier today, it represents a factory and a critical shift in the industry to industrial-scale mass production. Ernest Francillon and Jacques David were critical to the development of the horology industry in the 19th century, abandoning the etablissage system and industrializing watchmaking, and becoming champions for the integration of manufacturing in the 20th century.