A DAY at the races. A chateau. A couple of actors. Longines could not have assembled a more ideal set of pomp and characters with which to surround its Record collection.
The watchmaker brought together for the first time stars Kate Winslet and Simon Baker, both longtime Longines “Ambassadors of Elegance,” for a photo shoot at the historic Chateau de Chantilly, located just about 50 kilometers north of the French capital. In the evening right after the photo shoot, Winslet and Baker attended a special Longines event held at the spectacular — and sprawling — grounds of the chateau first erected around 1560, then rebuilt in the 1870s.
Besides the grandeur of the location, certainly another reason why Longines picked the Chantilly landmark for its Hollywood-laced event was because the Prix de Diane Longines was scheduled the day after. Prix de Diane is a glamorous horse racing event open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is a fixture every June in Chantilly, an activity where rich history and rich people mingle.
And all this to highlight a pair of Record pieces. For the photos Winslet and Baker wore matching two-tone steel-and-rose-gold (18-karat) watches; hers appears to be the 30-millimeter-wide ladies’ piece that has a white mother-of-pearl dial, diamond indices and blued steel hands, him the 40-millimeter-wide men’s version with similar blued steel hands but a sunray silver dial and simpler bar markers. Both watches are mounted on steel bracelets with rose-gold caps.
Both, too, have transparent covers on the caseback. The smaller timepiece shows through this the self-winding cal. L592.4, a 28,800vph ETA A20.L11-based movement with 22 jewels and a 40-hour power reserve. The masculine two-tone Record displays on this window the cal. L888.4, also an automatic based on an ETA A31.L11. It oscillates at an unconventional 25,200vph, has 21 jewels and a notable 64-hour power reserve.
Just as impressive about these Longines-modified movements is that both are fitted with balance springs made of silicon, a material largely unaffected by variations in temperature, magnetic fields and atmospheric pressure. This means the movements can be more accurate for longer periods.
And these calibres really are accurate; the watches they power are COSC-certified chronometers. Fact is, the Record collection is the only one in the Longines lineup composed entirely of COSC chronometers. Which is not bad at all, considering the Record pieces come in four sizes (26, 30, 38.5 and 40 millimeters), a variety of dials including silver, blue and black, and just as many choices of indices (bars, diamonds, numerals). They could be supplied with leather straps, too, if bracelets are not one’s thing.
In short, the scope of these Record timepieces’ abilities is quite broad. Just like Winslet’s and Baker’s.
