Longines has teamed up with Chinese artist Wu Jian’an to create a limited-edition watch that celebrates 2025, the year of the wood snake.
Aptly limited to 2,025 examples, the watch is a special edition of Longines’ Conquest Heritage model. Setting it apart from the rest of the Longines family is a domed, sun-ray, graduated red dial and a screw-down case back that features an engraving of a mystical snake holding a Lingzhi mushroom in its mouth.
In East Asian culture, the snake symbolises elegance, wisdom and transformation, says Longines. The snake is known for its intuition and resilience, the watchmaker adds, and also symbolises rebirth and encourages reflection and personal growth. It being January, we could probably all sign up for a bit of that.
The watch has a 40 mm stainless steel case with a glass-boxed sapphire crystal and a screw-down crown at the three o’clock position. It is driven by a mechanical self-winding movement, Longines calibre L888.5, with 21 jewels and up to 72 hours of power reserve. Water resistance is 50 metres.
Longines presents the watch on a black alligator strap with a heritage stainless steel pin buckle. As well as the intricate engraving, the case back also features the message “2025 year of the snake - limited edition - one of 2025”.
Why does the snake have a mushroom in its mouth? Longines explains: “In honour of the lunar Year of the Snake, Longines has collaborated with Chinese artist Wu Jian'an to reinterpret the story of ‘Stealing the Immortal Herb’ from the famous Chinese tale ‘The Legend of the White Snake’...The emblem depicts a snake clutching a Lingzhi mushroom, its form spiralling into concentric circles, evoking ripples that symbolise the passage of time and the continuity of life.”
Priced at £2,800, the Longines Conquest Heritage Year of The Snake Edition is available now.
