Longines Conquest V.H.P. GMT Flash Setting: It's No Flash In The Pan!

A second time zone that can be set via an app that uses a smartphone camera flash?
 

It's not often you hear someone waxing lyrical over a watchmaking piece fitted with a quartz calibre. However, when that technology brings something new and unique to the mix, it's impossible to resist the temptation to try it out. Such is the case of the brand new Conquest V.H.P. GMT Flash Setting. To all intents and purposes, the steel-clad timekeeping instrument, driven by the now famous V.H.P. quartz calibre (complete with anti-magnetic functionality and the ability to reset its hands at night for a guaranteed precision of +/- 5 seconds a year) appears to be identical to the previous timepiece launched last year. But in fact, it's completely brand new and boasts a GMT functionality that can be reset utilizing your smartphone's camera flash.
 

The flash pulse system, similar to the one in use in apps used to lock and unlock doors to rental apartments or hotel rooms in France, led to the creation of the world's first GMT watch paired to a smartphone without the emission of radio waves (light being essentially a wave). The idea was not only unique, and the fact that it was also highly practical and efficient made it like child's play.
 

"There's a Longines for every wrist," Walter von Känel used to say. However, the brand also set out to satisfy the real needs of users, especially air travelers, given Longines' long-standing interest in the field of aviation. Said users could thus display the time at their destination through a simple flash pulse, once they had set the target country on their telephone through a simple, freely downloadable app. The brand had thus made significant progress in optimizing the electronic functionalities dedicated to watchmaking.
 

It couldn't be easier. Once the watch is lined up in the Smartphone viewfinder window, a simple press of the button sends a sequence of flashes, which are then received by a photosensitive cell hidden inside the 1 of 12 o'clock. The information is then relayed via a Morse code light signal to the processor in order to instruct the hands to display the desired time. The buzzwords at Longines have always been simplicity and efficiency, and therefore pressing the crown twice enables you to switch from local to home time, and back again. Now if that's not love at first sight, I don't know what is!