Regé-Jean Page really likes vintage Longines

Russell Sheldrake

That title certainly feels like it came out of nowhere, and when I found this out in my recent interview with Regé-Jean Page, it was a bit of a revelation. We’re very lucky here at Time+Tide, we get to speak to many watch brand ambassadors on a wide range of topics. Whether it be athletics, basketball, or even Australian Indigenous art, so it’s always fun when you get an unexpected answer out of one of them. And I was lucky enough to spend a few minutes with the Bridgerton star just before Royal Ascot earlier this year, and ask him a few questions about the brand that had brought us all there, Longines.

I found Page in the rather plush surroundings of Pennyhill Park Hotel on what was a day far too hot to be wearing full morning dress, but given the man’s experience of wearing period-correct clothing in all weathers, he was certainly holding up far better than I was. But you’re not here for descriptions of our clothes, you’d probably like to hear how I found out about his penchant for older Longines models.

We got talking through the usual topics; his go-to Longines model, the Hydroconquest GMT, and the other Longines ambassador he most looks up to, Kate Winslet, obviously, given that she is “practically perfect in every way”, according to Page. I asked him, given his history with period dramas, if he had much chance to explore Longines vintage models. And there was an instant spark from him.

“There’s a couple, I don’t get particularly academic about watches, but there is one. I don’t know how to say it, is it feille [sic] d’or?” a valiant attempt from Page at an understandably tricky French name. “It’s this really thin, old, gold, I think it was the thinnest watch at the time. It means gold leaf, how would you say that in French?” He asked this off to the side where a couple members of the Longines team and his manager were sat, one of which quickly came back with, “ah feuille d’or.” “Feuille d’or, I can absolutely jump on that. But I’m an absolute sucker for a vintage watch, if something’s got a bit of history, a bit of story to it.

This was the answer that caught me off guard. The vintage market for Longines is one that feels ripe for rediscovery at the moment, with plenty of great deals to be found on fantastic designs, and having someone like Regé-Jean Page call out such a distinctive model from the brand’s past as a personal favourite shows how much depth there is here. The Feuille d’Or was a quartz piece that broke the record for the first wristwatch to measure under 2mm thick, its flat, square design spoke to the times, as it was released in 1979 as the global economy was on the up and displays of wealth, such as this, were becoming more fashionable. The watch was just a rebranded version of the Concord Delirium, as the ultra-thin movement was made by Ebauches SA.

It’s clear that while Page might not have known everything about Longines before joining the brand, “I’d seen Longines branding around sports events like this before. And that has that implication of heritage, that they have a history” as he put it, he has certainly engaged with the brand in a real way since joining. Not only taking note of the models that are presented to him from the current collection, but also the historical pieces which us watch nerds love.