Zenith (watchmaker)

Zenith

Type	Wholly owned subsidiary
Industry	Luxury Watches
Founded	Le Locle, Neuchâtel, Switzerland , 1865
Founder	Georges Favre-Jacot
Headquarters	Le Locle , Switzerland
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Julien Tornare (current CEO)
Parent	LVMH
Website	zenith-watches.com

Zenith SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker. The company was started in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot at the age of 22, in Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel.^[1] Zenith was purchased by LVMH in November 1999, becoming one of several brands in its watch and jewellery division which includes TAG Heuer and Hublot. Julien Tornare is the current CEO after Jean-Claude Biver (Interim CEO) in 2017, replacing CEO Aldo Magada, who had replaced Jean-Frédéric Dufour in 2014.^[2] Zenith is one of the Swiss watch manufacturers that still produce their own movements themselves.

History

George Favre-Jacot was born 1843 and died 1917.^[3] He was an apprentice within the watchmaking industry while still a youth.^[4] Favre-Jacot at some time requested that a house be built for himself at Le Locle, by the architect Le Corbusier.^[5] He was also closely involved with another prominent architect, named Alphonse Laverrière. His relationship with this latter architect was the source of influence upon the Werkbund movement. The two men collaborated with a shared artistic vision of the nature of production, to the extent to which they themselves somewhat reformed the artistic situation within francophone Switzerland at the time.^[4]

In 1865, at the age of 22, Farve-Jacot begin manufacturing watches under his name at a small workshops in Le Locle, Switzerland. After witnessing the success of American watch companies Waltham and Elgin utlitizing mass production to sell affordable and reliable timepieces, he invested heavily in his own company to created a vertically integrated watchmaking operation. He renamed his company Zenith.

Collections

Currently, Zenith has the following collections:^[6]

• Defy ("the future of tradition")
• Chronomaster ("an icon worn on the wrist")
• Elite ("timeless elegance by Zenith")
• Pilot ("heading for far horizons")

Notable models

El Primero

The El Primero calibre, when it was first unveiled in 1969 was the first high frequency automatic chronograph movement, [1] [2] and certainly the one to put Zenith Watches on the map. One of the original watchmakers who worked on the movement, Charles Vermot took upon himself to save the brilliant calibre when the owners of the brand decided to abandon the idea of a mechanical chronograph and focus on Quartz timepieces in 1975.^[7] While all the tools, components etc. used to manufacture the calibre were being dumped or sold, Vermot gathered all the necessary technical plans and tools and hid them in a walled-off attic at the Zenith manufacture to protect the El Primero for future generations. [3][4]

A decade later, when it was resurrected in 1986.^[8] the same tools, plans and components helped start the production of the El Primero again.[5][6]

It was one of the first automatic chronograph movements and has a frequency of 36,000 vibrations per hour (10 Hz). Zenith's El Primero movement was used by Rolex from 1988 to 2000 for the Rolex Daytona chronograph. The El Primero movement's high rate allows a resolution of ​¹⁄₁₀ of a second and a potential for greater positional accuracy over the more common standard frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (8 Hz).^[9] The El Primero was honoured with a 2012 release of the El Primero Stratos Flyback Striking 10th, limited to 1,969 pieces (in honour of the original 1969 release date), that housed the same 36,000 vph movement and a sub-dial measuring in tenths of a second to make a complete rotation every ten seconds.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

Photo gallery

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  Chronograph El Primero, first version 1970

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  Zenith El Primero

• 

  Zenith El Primero

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  Zenith El Primero

• 

  Zenith El Primero

• 

  El Primero De Luca,
  Ref #02.2310.400

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  Zenith pocket watch c. 1900–1910 (original mechanism, but no original casing)

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  Inside of Zenith pocket watch c. 1900–1910 (original mechanism, but no original casing)

• 

  Zenith Grande Chronomaster XXT, Quantième perpétuel

Notable patrons and owners

Mahatma Gandhi owned a Zenith pocket watch with alarm function, which was given to him by Indira Gandhi, the 3rd Prime Minister of India .^[15] On March 5, 2009, the pocket watch along with some of Gandhi's other personal belongings were auctioned by Antiquorum in New York City , altogether fetching US$2,096,000.^[15][16] The leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan had a Zenith watch when he was detained by the Turkish authorities.^[17]

See also

• List of watch manufacturers

References

External links

• Zenith official website

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