There’s something different about seeing a luxury watch on a billboard when it isn’t trying to sell you anything loudly. That’s the feeling behind Longines latest outdoor campaign in the UAE. A gentle return to the spotlight that feels less like a marketing push and more like a passing thought you want to sit with. After a brief appearance just a month ago, the Swiss watchmaker is back across Dubai’s main arteries, this time with a campaign that’s more intimate in tone and cleaner in execution. Known for its timeless craftsmanship since 1832, Longines doesn’t need to rely on noise to make a statement. Their newest D/OOH campaign, spotted across high-traffic intersections and anchored at the Rivoli Group’s flagship location, does what the best luxury ads do. It lets you look, then invites you to linger. The question posed is simple: “What time is it there?” written in both English and Arabic. It’s rhetorical, almost. Not about punctuality, but about presence. About where you are, where someone else might be, and what connection looks like across time zones and silences. The watch itself, the Longines Spirit Zulu Time, is centered. Its steel glint muted by a warm copper halo that bleeds into a deep grey gradient. Everything around it is quiet. No logo overload. No dramatic taglines. Just one fine-tuned object at the heart of a moody, minimalist canvas. The creative direction is as restrained as it is intentional. A dual-panel format gives space for the product to breathe, while the clean layout ensures that your eye doesn’t need to fight to find the message. The visual palette, a mix of charcoals, burnished bronze, and soft light, doesn’t scream summer or seasons at all. It whispers permanence. The kind of elegance that doesn’t age with trends or flicker with every digital scroll. It’s rare to see a billboard that slows you down. But this one does. There’s a nostalgia to the line “What time is it there?” Like it’s coming from a handwritten letter or an unanswered message from someone you once knew well. In a city that moves fast and sells harder, Longines offers a campaign that does the opposite. It rests. It observes. And it reminds us that time, at its best, isn’t just kept. It’s felt. The campaign has been seen in the third week of July on digital screens.
