The vintage-look trend continues apace, and one watch brand has devoted an entire family within its portfolio to resurrecting timepieces from its long and creative history. In this feature from the WatchTime archives, we explore the origins, inspirations, and varied offerings of Longines?s ever-expanding Heritage Collection.

Much of the Heritage collection is inspired by vintage pieces in the Longines Museum in Saint-Imier, Switzerland

Trends come and go in the watch world, but the trend toward nostalgia has proven to possess more staying power than most. Fueled by the growth of the pre-owned market and high-profile watch auctions, modern re-creations of vintage timepieces from the early to mid-20th century have proliferated across the industry for nearly a decade now, with just about every brand mining its past for pieces that might appeal to the retro-look tastes of today?s consumer. One watch brand, however, has been servicing this audience longer than most, and with a greater variety of styles: Longines, which traces its history back to 1832 and which began seeing the writing on the wall for the vintage revival as early as the late 1980s.
Of all the watch-world semicentennial milestones that were lavishly commemorated in 2019 ? from the first quartz watch to the launches of the Monaco and El Primero ? one such anniversary passed by relatively quietly: 50 years since Walter Von Känel joined Longines, founded and still headquartered in his hometown of Saint-Imie...