Breschan says that Longines was fortunate that the countries where the brand was strongest, particularly China, also happened to be the countries that emerged from the pandemic the quickest. Hong Kong, among Longines’ top three markets before the pandemic, has recovered sufficiently to remain in the brand’s top five today, despite the longer lockdowns and tourism restrictions the city went through in comparison to other Asian markets.

5 watch brands from football star Son Heung-min’s winning collection

Despite the fast recovery from the pandemic, the Covid period revealed some structural problems within Longines’ business, Breschan reveals: “Longines is, probably, over the last 20 years, one of the biggest success stories in the whole watch industry, but we made one mistake in this time.” He says that while Longines was strong in many Asian countries, that was made easy because mainland Chinese tourists were travelling the world and buying the watches from its retailers – who ended up forgetting about domestic customers.

He adds that Longines had previously allowed local retailers to tailor its products to appeal to Chinese tourists specifically. “That was a big mistake, because we saw with Covid that tourists can disappear,” says Breschan, adding that he pushed Longines to shift its focus and make domestic clients the priority.

In 2020, the brand launched the entirely new Spirit collection, a heritage line of aviation watches. It was a notable move, as many of the larger Swiss brands were focused on extensions of existing popular collections. From a standing start, the Spirit collection has garnered positive critical reaction and strong sales for its pilot watches: last year, Longines introduced the Spirit Flyback Chronograph to emphasise once more its historical pedigree with that particular complication.

When simple won’t do: 7 watches that are beyond three hands and a dial

Breschan says, however, that he wouldn’t be able to play with prices too much due to Longines’ fixed place within the Swatch Group family of brands: “Longines is positioned from 1,000 to 5,000 Swiss francs (US$1,100 to US$5,700). There’s no need to move upscale because there’s Omega, and there’s no need to move down as there’s Tissot.”

But perhaps the enduring strength of Longines, and the quality that makes it something on an outlier among its Swiss watch industry peers, is its balanced appeal to both men and women. According to Breschan, Longines boasts an almost 50:50 ratio in terms of its sales to women and men, compared to around 80:20 in favour of men for most of its rivals. Breschan says that “segmentation” in the watch business, and Longines specifically, is becoming a thing of the past: “[Before], we made watches for young people, old people, women and men. But things are getting more genderless and ageless.”

What Swatch collab can we look forward to next? Style’s 6 best guesses

Breschan says that Longines’ men’s watches are just as popular with women buyers and vice versa, and this gender blurring is increasing. He points to the Mini DolceVita watch, a small classic-designed square-faced timepiece ostensibly for women, that has been a hit with both sexes. He adds that sometimes the distinction between men’s and women’s pieces is purely for practical reasons: “One of the few reasons why we still mention ‘men’s watches’ and ‘women’s watches’ on our website is Google. If you don’t have these terms integrated into your website, you’re losing out in the ranking.”

Asked whether Longines is deliberately targeting Gen Z’s more gender-fluid attitudes, Breschan is coy, although admitting that the brand has “something in the pipeline” in regard to this that he can’t divulge right now. Moreover, with the Mini DolceVita campaign currently fronted by Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, Breschan says that the brand “super open” to using a man in the future to advertise one of its most celebrated women’s watches.