Longines celebrates elegance at Royal Ascot with Chi Ling Lin
This week, the Swiss watch brand Longines celebrates the English sartorial elegance characteristic of the Royal Meeting at Ascot, as the Official Partner, Official Timekeeper, and Official Watch of this prestigious event. On this occasion, the brand welcomed on Wednesday its Ambassador of Elegance, the Asian actress Chin Ling Lin. As the Official Watch of the event, Longines also highlighted models from the Record collection, a line combining classic elegance and watchmaking excellence.
This week, the Ascot racecourse (UK) hosts one of the world’s most anticipated sports events of the year: the Royal Meeting. The Swiss watch brand Longines is honoured to take part in this prestigious horse racing rendezvous as its Official Partner, Official Timekeeper and Official Watch.
On Wednesday, 19 June, Longines invited its Ambassador of Elegance Chi Ling Lin to experience the Royal Meeting’s unique atmosphere. Following the remarkable victory of Dashing Willoughby in the Queen’s Vase race, the acclaimed Asian actress, together with Longines Vice President Richard Strohmeier, presented elegant timepieces to the winning owners (Mick and Janice Mariscotti), trainer (Andrew Balding), jockey(Oisin Murphy), and groom (Angela Cheshire).
Later on that day, the owner (Sir Evelyn and Lady Lynn De Rothschild), the trainer’s representative, the jockey (Frankie Dettori) and the groom (Corrado Morale) of Crystal Ocean, the winning horse of the Prince of Wales’ Stakes, also received elegant Longines watches from the hands of Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.
In line with the refinement of the Royal Meeting, Longines is proud to highlight the Official Watch of Royal Ascot, a steel and gold model from the Record collection. Combining classic elegance with watchmaking excellence, each piece in this line houses a movement including a single-crystal silicon balance spring with unique properties and is certified as a “chronometer” by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC).
Longines’ passion for the equestrian world dates back to 1869, when the brand produced its first equestrian pocket watch, displaying a proud horse head. A few years later, in 1878, Longines developed a chronograph movement, fitted in a case engraved with a jockey and his mount.
Seen on the racetracks as early as 1881, this type of timepieces proved extremely popular among jockeys and horse-lovers, as it enabled its user to time performances to the second. Today, Longines’ involvement in equestrian sports includes flat racing as well as show-jumping, dressage, driving and eventing competitions. Longines chose to support equestrian sports as a perfect illustration of its core values: tradition, elegance and performance.
