News After a 10-year absence, Longines is back in the starting gates, bringing all the emotions of the "white circus" back to life as the brand takes up its role once more as Official Timekeeper of the FIS Alpine World Cup 2006-2007.
The appointment from the International Ski Federation calls Longines back to the slopes to provide timekeeping services for 20 races in the period from November 11th in Levi (Finland) to March 18th in Lenzerheide, the World Cup final. Highlights along the way include: December 9/10th and 16/17th in Val d’Isère, January 12-14th in Wengen and the legendary downhill race set for February 24th and 25th at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
The brand’s enduring association with skiing began in Chamonix in 1933, and ever since, winter events have been the occasion for Longines to distinguish itself through numerous technological, even revolutionary innovations: the photoelectric-cell-based light beam barrier device (1945), the first luminous scoreboard (1962), time measurement to 1/1000th of a second (1964), an automatic 100 images/second recording system with integrated individual times (1971), time measurement to 1/10,000th of a second (1973), the first superimposition of "Longines Timing" on TV screens (1975)… Although by no means exhaustive, this list of achievements bears witness nonetheless to the sustained commitment that has enabled Longines to make its mark in the world of top-class competition and sports timekeeping.
To each age its own challenges! More than a century after the first Olympic Games of the modern era, the difficulties associated with sports timekeeping have grown considerably. For the men’s downhill, for example, the FIS requires 5 intermediate times and 2 speed measurements, in addition to the final result. To this end, photoelectric cells placed at intermediate measuring points are activated manually just before the competitors race past. The FIS requires that each measurement device be equipped with a secondary (backup) timing system, and that it be capable of measurements accurate to 1/100th of a second. The data is passed immediately ("in real time") to TV screens, to each sports commentator, to the Internet and to the press on site at the venues.
Longines is proud to link its name and its image once again to this high-level sport. The brand’s experience and discipline lead it to approach each competition as a challenge demanding "no-fault" performance.
November 21, 2006
