Zenith (watchmaker)

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 in-house.

Zenith
Wholly owned subsidiary
IndustryLuxury Watches
FoundedLe Locle, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1865
FounderGeorges Favre-Jacot
Headquarters
Le Locle
,
Switzerland
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Julien Tornare (current CEO)
ParentLVMH
Websitezenith-watches.com

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]

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 was first released in 1969, went out of production in 1975[7] and was resurrected in 1986.[8]

It was one of the first automatic chronograph movements and has a frequency of 36,000 vibrations per hour (5 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 (4 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]

  • Chronograph El Primero, first version 1970
  • Zenith El Primero
  • Zenith El Primero
  • Zenith El Primero
  • Zenith El Primero
  • Zenith pocket watch c. 1900–1910 (original mechanism, but no original casing)
  • 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 Nehru, the 3rd Prime Minister of India.[15] On March 5, 2009, the pocket watch along with some of Gandhi's other personal stuff was auctioned by Antiquorum in New York, altogether fetching US$2,096,000.[15][16]

gollark: Look, everyone is here *anyway*.
gollark: That still worked? Bees.
gollark: Bees you.
gollark: It's one of the rock crusher outputs.
gollark: I don't know what electromagnetic music people like, and I don't like much of it myself.

See also

References
  1. "Georges Favre-Jacot". Zenith International. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  2. "Zenith - Aldo Magada new CEO - People and interviews - WorldTempus". en.worldtempus.com. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  3. Birksted, Jan (26 October 2018). "Le Corbusier and the Occult". MIT Press. Retrieved 26 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  4. Zenith Watches. Georges Favre-Jacot. Zenith Watches. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  5. Flint, Anthony (26 October 2018). "Modern Man: The Life of Le Corbusier, Architect of Tomorrow". Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved 26 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  6. "Zenith - Swiss Luxury Watches & Manufacture since 1865". Zenith Watches. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  7. https://www.zenith-watches.com/en_en/icones/el-primero
  8. https://monochrome-watches.com/the-zenith-el-primero-revisiting-one-of-the-most-iconic-movements-ever/
  9. "The Stainless-Steel Zenith El Primero Chronomaster". timezone.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2009.
  10. "Best Watches of 2012: Zenith El Primero Stratos Flyback Striking 10th". R.G. Holland. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  11. https://www.timepiecechronicle.com/features/2017/10/3/thehistoryofthezenithelprimero
  12. https://www.watchtime.com/featured/on-the-cusp-a-brief-history-of-the-zenith-el-primero/
  13. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-carbon-is-giving-watches-a-well-needed-makeover
  14. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/fashion/watches-la-chaux-de-fonds-switzerland.html
  15. "Gandhi - Gandhi's Pocket Watch with Alarm - Zenith". Zenith Watches. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  16. "Mahatma Gandhi's Pocket watch formely owned by Mahatma Gandhi, political and spiritual leader of India, later given to his grandniece, Abha Gandhi". catalog.antiquorum.swiss. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
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