180 YEARS OF

Alpine ski circuit:
Longines times ski
races and is proud
to have the Norwegian
skier Aksel Lund
Svindal (picture)
as Ambassador
of Elegance.
ALPINE SKIING
e collaboration between Longines and the Alpine
ski circuit began in 1933 when the watch company rst
timed races in Chamonix, France. Since that time
Longines has regularly proven its abilities in the timekeeping
of sporting events.
Today the demands of timekeeping technologies
are higher than ever before. For a downhill race, for
example, the International Ski Federation FIS requires
the overall time plus five intermediate times and two
speed measurements. Every piece of data must appear
on the television screen immediately and with no time
delay.
Many years of experience as a timekeeper in so
many dierent athletic disciplines has given Longines
the expertise to meet the high demands of skiing and
made the company especially well-qualied to be the
ocial timekeeper of the Alpine World Cup and world
championships. Longines currently appears each season
at about 80 races throughout Europe and North
America and provides professional timekeeping and
data handling for television coverage.
Aside from timing, Longines has also been involved
in this sport on a more personal level. For several years
now the company has sponsored Norwegian allrounder
Aksel Lund Svindal who has won the World
Cup in four of its ve disciplines. Other highlights of
his career include an Olympic win and four championship
titles at the Alpine World Cups.
1911
The “broken wire” system: Automatic
timing with a wire at the finish line was
developed in 1911 and used for the
first time one year later at the Swiss
Federal Gymnastics Meet in Basel.
LONGINES SPECIAL WatchTime | 27