Zenith Watches
Zenith has been assiduously exercising technical and artistic creativity for 150 years, with a constant desire for innovation and a tirelessly enterprising spirit. Around 80 professions, 2,333 prizes in the field of chronometry (an absolute record), more than 300 patents and over 600 movement variations, a sprinkling of legends such as the El Primero, the first integrated automatic chronograph, launched in 1969. While such figures do not tell the whole story, they nonetheless speak for themselves.
These technical feats that are the pride of the brand and have forged its renown would be inconceivable without the men and women who accomplish them on a daily basis. Because it is in them that the secret of Zenith’s success lies: the artisans and their hand crafts- manship, their ideas and expertise, their enthusiasm and their heritage. The victory of mind over matter.
The most wonderful part of it all is that this precious skill set and attitude have been passed on from one gener- ation to the next for 150 years. The spirit of the Manufacture is percep- tible to all those who enter it.
El Primero Synopsis
- Case made of Rose gold
- Silver-toned sunray
- Alligator leather strap with protective rubber lining
- Rose gold pin buckle
Captain Ultra Thin Lady Moonphase
- Case material: steel
- Dials and counters: Silver-toned guilloché
- Strap: steel bracelet
- Clasp: steel triple folding clasp
Captain Ultra Thin
- Case material: steel
- Dial: White lacquered
- Alligator leather strap with protective rubber lining
- Clasp: steel
An outstanding manufature
Not least by its singular architecture. A combination of glass and metal, punctuated by windows framed with white and red painted bricks from Georges Favre-Jacot’s own brickyard. The company’s 18 buildings are all located in the very same spot where the founder laid the first stone of his factory in 1865 – a geographical continuity that is a rarity in itself.
Placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2009, the first ever watch Manufacture, of which the comprehensive renovation will be completed next year, houses an almost magical combination of extreme technical sophistication and artisan-style expertise. From miniaturisation to chronometry, from researching new materials to working on shapes, from prototype making to assembling complications, Zenith’s current production processes mingle all but forgotten crafts and state-of- the-art equipment. All this is done without ever losing sight of tradition and the quest for perfection. It is the convergence of all these elements, along with countless daily operations driven by an authentic and enduring spirit, that today make Zenith a truly exceptional Manufacture.
A Visionary Founder
1865. A youthful entrepreneur aged barely 22 years of age, a fiercely independent visionary and a future captain of industry such as one encounters just a few per century, Georges Favre-Jacot founded a watch factory that was to become one of the first industrial watch Manufactures of modern times.
Instilling in everyone his enterprising and innovative spirit, he was to revolutionise the watch industry and patiently build the legend of a wristworn dream: the Zenith watch.
