Longines pays homage to its storied history as an innovative watchmaker with the Spirit Zulu Time 1925, a timepiece that has traveled across a century to accompany today’s modern traveler.
Few things can truly travel through time. A movie shot on film stock in the 1920s, if preserved well, can resurface a century later—unearthed from a dusty warehouse, flickering back to life on a silver screen. Heirlooms do the same. Take a diamond ring: with enough care, it can pass from hand to hand, generation to generation, until it lands on the finger of a great-great-grandson’s future bride. Watches are no different. A timepiece built in the 19th century, crafted with precision and care, can feel brand new again when worn in 2025.
But Longines takes it one step further. With the Spirit Zulu Time 1925, the brand doesn’t just preserve the past; it reimagines it, building a bridge between time periods through heritage, innovation, and unmistakable style. This new timepiece was created to mark the 100th anniversary of the Swiss brand’s first dual-time zone wristwatch, originally released in 1925. And who better to represent the elegance of that legacy than timeless gentleman Henry Cavill, Longines’s Ambassador of Elegance? If this isn’t time travel—or rather, traveling through time in style—we don’t know what is.
Time For The Future
Let’s rewind to the 19th century, a time when travel was far from effortless. The idea of time travel had only just begun to stir the imagination, popularized by visionary writers like H.G. Wells in The Time Machine. Adventurers of the era journeyed with little more than the clothes on their backs, a trunk of cherished belongings, and—if fortune favored them—a reliable pocket watch to guide the way.
However, the standardization of time zones was just on the horizon, a shift that would soon revolutionize global travel and communication. The designation of Greenwich as the Prime Meridian in 1884, followed by the division of the globe into 24 time zones, introduced a unified system that made it possible to coordinate activities across continents with newfound precision. In this pivotal era, Longines rose to prominence, earning its place as the timepiece of choice for world travelers, celebrated for its accuracy and dependability.
In 1908, the Ottoman Empire commissioned the brand to create what would become the “Turkish Watch,” an innovative pocket watch that displayed two time zones at once, allowing wearers to read both Turkish and Western time simultaneously. Then, in 1925, as the pace of the world accelerated, Longines led the way once again with the introduction of the “Zulu Time”—the world’s first dual-time zone wristwatch.
The world suddenly felt smaller, and traveling became smarter. On its dial was a reference to the letter “Z,” inspired by the maritime signal flag representing Zulu Time, the standard for the zero meridian in Greenwich: what we now call Universal Time (UTC+0). In aviation, this format eliminated the confusion of AM and PM, ensuring crystal-clear communication across time zones. These innovations proved essential to aviation pioneers like Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn, both of whom relied on this technology during their historic non-stop Pacific crossing in 1931. Pilots and navigators still use Zulu Time today to stay precisely aligned midair and across oceans.
A century later, the Zulu Time wristwatch has journeyed into the present day in the form of the Longines Spirit Zulu Time 1925, a commemorative timepiece that captures the pioneering spirit of past adventurers while being thoughtfully designed, precisely engineered, and fully equipped for the globetrotter of today.
The Longines Journey Continues
Few things are as valuable as time and the instruments that help us measure it. Imagine navigating the world without a watch. How would we know when to move, when to pause, or how far we’ve come? As history has shown, Longines has played a pivotal role in shaping how we experience and understand time in the modern world. Their latest creation, the Longines Spirit Zulu Time 1925, pays tribute to the groundbreaking Zulu Time released a century ago—and it’s one of the brand’s most striking and refined timepieces yet.
Housed in a 39-mm stainless steel case, the watch features a bidirectional rotating bezel topped with an 18 ct rose-gold circular-brushed insert—a first for the collection. Its 24-hour scale allows the wearer to track not just two, but three time zones, taking the spirit of the original Zulu Time even further. Powered by the Longines calibre L844.4, this self-winding mechanical movement is equipped with a silicon balance spring and cutting-edge components that make it up to ten times more resistant to magnetic fields than the ISO 764 standard requires.
The numbers and indexes are finely engraved, adding a layer of quiet sophistication to the design. The choice of rose gold—an alloy containing copper—pays tribute to the copper strip that marks the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, established over three centuries ago. The watch is available with either a stainless steel bracelet featuring a double-folding safety clasp, or a black NATO strap with a pin buckle, offering two versatile ways to wear it. It all comes together in a special edition presentation box that celebrates the importance of this centennial timepiece. More than a tribute to Longines’s storied legacy, it’s a future heirloom—one that could just as easily mark your family’s moments as it does the passing of time itself. The journey continues.
What Time Is It There?
At the heart of the Longines Spirit Zulu Time 1925 campaign is none other than style superman (pun very much intended) Henry Cavill. With a debonair, globetrotting lifestyle both on and off screen, the leading man perfectly embodies the timepiece’s spirit of adventure and timeless elegance. Cavill, who stands as Longines’s Ambassador of Elegance, stars in a story of emotional connection: here, two people separated by continents and time zones remain in sync through his Longines watch. It’s a poetic portrayal of how time, when kept with intention, can bring people closer, no matter the distance. And at the center of it all is one simple, powerful question: What time is it there?
That’s where the Spirit Zulu Time 1925 takes the idea of time travel one step further. It’s not just about moving between eras, but about staying connected across them. The watch captures more than just hours, minutes, and seconds—it reflects a shared rhythm, a sense of continuity, and the precision required to keep pace in a fast-moving world. In the end, it’s not only about what time it is there, but also what it means to keep time here, now, and everywhere in between.
Longines is located at SM Megamall, Power Plant Mall, and Solaire Resort.
Photographs courtesy of Longines and Lucerne
