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Zenith (watchmaker)

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Zenith
TypeWholly owned subsidiary
IndustryLuxury watches
Founded1865; 161 years ago (1865) in Le Locle, Switzerland
FounderGeorges Favre-Jacot
Headquarters
Le Locle
,
Switzerland
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Benoit de Clerck (current CEO)[1]
ParentLVMH
Websitewww.zenith-watches.com

Zenith SA is a French owned Swiss luxury watch manufacturing subsidiary of LVMH. The company was founded in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot in Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel and is one of the oldest continuously operating watchmakers. Zenith was purchased by LVMH in November 1999, becoming one of several brands in its watch and jewelry division, which includes TAG Heuer and Hublot. Benoit de Clerck is the company's current president and CEO.

History

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Georges Favre-Jacot

In 1865, Georges Favre-Jacot (1843 – 1917) began manufacturing watches in Le Locle, Switzerland.[2][3] After witnessing the success of American watch companies that exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in 1876, he opened a watchmaking factory.[4]

At the 1900 Paris World's Fair,[5] one of Favre-Jacot's designs was awarded the Grand Prix.[6][7] Zenith was renamed to Fabrique des Montres Zenith S.A. in 1912.[8] In the 1920s, Zenith developed the Calibre 26x series of chronometers.[9] In the 1940s, Zenith continued their efforts to develop precision movements, including the Calibre 135 from 1949 to 1962, whose competition variant, the Calibre 135-O,[a] won five Neuchatel Observatory prizes from 1950 to 1954.[11][12] Calibre 135 was brought back in 2022, when Zenith collaborated with Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen.[13] To further support vertical integration of watch manufacturing, Zenith purchased movement maker Martel in 1959.[14]

Due to ongoing naming disputes with Zenith Electronics, the company was unable to achieve a sizable market share in the United States. In 1968, Zenith merged with Movado (and later Mondia as Movado-Zenith-Mondia) to sell in the United States under the already established Movado brand. With the popularity of quartz watches increasing, Zenith Radio Company decided to enter the market in 1972 through acquisition of Zenith, joining the two companies of the same name. It was during this ownership that production of mechanical movements was halted and the production shifted to quartz movements, a move meant to save the company, but ultimately led to it being put up for sale in 1978.[15] Dixi, who already had purchased many struggling Swiss watchmakers, purchased Movado-Zenith-Mondia from Zenith Radio Company in 1978 under the leadership of Paul Castella.[15][16] While other brands slowly shuttered production due to the quartz crisis, Zenith was continuing to produce wristwatches as it struggled to survive. As automatic movements began to come back into demand, Ebel (and later Rolex) sourced the El Primero movement for their own chronograph timepieces, which supported the then-struggling brand.[15] In 1999, as watch consortiums (led by Swatch Group) began to acquire brands, LVMH purchased Zenith for $48.4 million USD.[17]

In total, Zenith has won over 2,300 prizes for chronometry.[18] Today, while very few Zenith timepieces feature COSC certification, the wristwatches meet or exceed these timekeeping standards.[19]

Movements

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El Primero

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Zenith El Primero

In 1962, Zenith began working on an automatic chronograph movement that was to commemorate the watchmaker's 100th anniversary.[20] El Primero calibre, when it was first unveiled on January 10, 1969, was the first high frequency automatic chronograph movement.[21][22] One of the original watchmakers who worked on the movement, Charles Vermot, saved the calibre when the owners of the brand decided to abandon the idea of a mechanical chronograph and focus on Quartz timepieces in 1975.[23] While all the tools 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 El Primero for future generations. The movement has over 70 versions since its inception in 1969.[21][22][24]

The movement 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. 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).[25] El Primero was honoured with a 2012 release of El Primero Stratos Flyback Striking 10th, limited to 1,969 pieces, referring to 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.[26][27]

Elite

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In 1991, Zenith began development of a modular, slim, adaptable, and multipurpose in-house movement that could be housed within a wide variety of timepieces across their various collections. Led by technical director Jean-Pierre Gerber, the company developed a thin movement with a diameter of 40.5 mm.[28] Operating at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz),[28] it was awarded the title of "Best Movement of the Year" when introduced at Baselworld in 1994.[29] The first wristwatches to include the movement were released in a similarly named Elite collection, which remain a feature of the present-day collection.[28] Additionally, the movement has been a feature of the Defy collection.[30]

Under Jean-Frédéric Dufour's tenure as CEO, the company decided to replace the Elite movement in their entry-level wristwatches with a more economical Sellita movement, and further develop a double-barrel version of the Elite for higher-end models. Upon Dufour's departure to Rolex in 2014, incoming CEO Aldo Magada reversed this decision, and the Elite is still being built by the company today.[31]

Collections

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Currently, Zenith has the following collections:[32]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ The "O" stands for "Observatory".[10]

References

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  1. ↑ "Appointments at LVMH Watches & Jewelry Division". LVMH. 8 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  2. ↑ "Georges Favre-Jacot". Zenith International. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  3. ↑ "Company Founders". Antique Watch World. Archived from the original on 21 August 2006.
  4. ↑ Beckett, Kathleen (14 November 2018). "A Swiss Town Designed for the Glory of Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018.
  5. ↑ Svaboe, Thor (12 May 2021). "Why I bought a Zenith pocket watch that's 106 years old". Time and Tide Watches.
  6. ↑ Sayej, Nadja (23 June 2022). "Good Company: Zenith's New Upcycled Line of Watch Straps". Barron's.
  7. ↑ "Zenith was born 150 years ago". Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. 3 September 2015.
  8. ↑ Daumas, Jean-Claude (2004). Les systèmes productifs dans l'arc jurassien. Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté. p. 181.
  9. ↑ Berthélaine, Le (2022). At overleve undergang - en mosaik af eksistensens stemninger [Surviving doom - a mosaic of the moods of existence] (in Danish). p. 142.
  10. ↑ Baker, Logan (2 June 2022). "Zenith Teams Up With Kari Voutilainen And Phillips To Bring Its Historic Caliber 135-O Back To Life". Hodinkee.
  11. ↑ "G.F.J. - The Ongoing Legacy of the Calibre 135". Zenith Watches Pressroom. 14 April 2026.
  12. ↑ "Zenith caliber 135-O". Watchbase.
  13. ↑ Weiss, Jamie (9 November 2025). "Why I'm still smitten with the Zenith G.F.J. Calibre 135". Time and Tide Watches.
  14. ↑ "The "Cairelli" Hits The Heights". Revolution Watch.
  15. 1 2 3 Stolk, Lex (20 January 2024). "Breaking Down The Brand Zenith: The Watch Brand That Could Have Been Bigger Than Rolex". Fratello Watches.
  16. ↑ Foskett, Stephen (3 March 2021). "The Fall and Rise of Zenith, 1969-1988". Grail Watch.
  17. ↑ W. W. D. Staff (16 November 1999). "LVMH's Acquisition of Zenith Expands Watch, Jewelry Group". WWD. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  18. ↑ Frois, Andre (26 August 2025). "The Historic Zenith Chronomaster Returns with a Meteorite Dial". Haute Time.
  19. ↑ "Zenith: The G.F.J. Calibre 135 Wins at the GPHG and Receives Chronometer Certification". 19 November 2025.
  20. ↑ "Inside the Zenith El Primero Watch". True Facet. 18 July 2018.
  21. 1 2 "Charles Vermot - el Primero's Guardian - Zenith". Zenith Watches.
  22. 1 2 Touchot, Arthur (10 October 2016). "Historical Perspectives: The Story of Charles Vermot, the Man Who Saved the el Primero (And Possibly Zenith)". Hodinkee.
  23. ↑ "CHRONOMASTER - Iconic & Timeless Watches - Zenith". Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  24. ↑ Markl, Xavier (6 July 2018). "The Zenith el Primero – Revisiting One of the Most Iconic Movements Ever". Monochrome Watches.
  25. ↑ "The Stainless-Steel Zenith El Primero Chronomaster". timezone.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2009.
  26. ↑ "Lot 106: ZENITH (CLASSIQUE ELITE HERITAGE – ULTRA THIN / ROMAINE RÉF. 03.2010.681/11.C493), vers 2013". Invaluable. 28 May 2020.
  27. ↑ "A History of the El Primero Movement — Timepiece Chronicle". www.timepiecechronicle.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019.
  28. 1 2 3 4 Green, Martin (5 December 2023). "In The Spotlight: The Zenith Elite Classic". WatchTime.
  29. ↑ Koh, Lynette (14 April 2015). "The Best of Baselworld". The Peak. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  30. 1 2 Lee, Jason (21 January 2026). "Zenith doubles down on Defy at LVMH Watch Week 2026, from black ceramic to a rose-gold tourbillon". Time and Tide Watches.
  31. ↑ "Zenith Elite". Grail Watch Reference. 25 May 2020.
  32. ↑ "DISCOVER THE ZENITH UNIVERSE". Zenith Watches. Retrieved 3 May 2026.
  33. ↑ Hartov, Oren (19 January 2026). "7 Elite New Timepieces From 2026's First Major Watch Event". GQ. Archived from the original on 19 January 2026.
  34. ↑ Hartov, Oren (29 January 2024). "The Best New Releases From LVMH Watch Week 2024". Inside Hook.
  35. ↑ epp (14 November 2025). "THE G.F.J. WINS THE CHRONOMETRY PRIZE AT THE GRAND PRIX D'HORLOGERIE DE GENÈVE 2025". ZENITH Watches. Retrieved 4 May 2026.
  36. ↑ "Zenith Elite". Zenith Watches. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  37. ↑ Müller, Olivier (1 October 2024). "Zenith Pilot Type 20 GMT: To Each Generation Its Own Inspiration". World Tempus.
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