Zenith (watchmaker)

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Zenith SA is a French owned

In 1865, at the age of 22, George Favre-Jacot began manufacturing watches under his name at a small workshops in Le Locle, Switzerland. After witnessing the success of American watch companies Waltham and Elgin utilizing mass production to sell affordable and reliable timepieces, he invested heavily in his own company to create a vertically integrated watchmaking operation, becoming the first manufacture d'horlogerie. At the 1900 Paris World's Fair, George Favre-Jacot & Co. was awarded the Grand Prix for their "Zenith" movement,^{[citation needed]} so named because Favre-Jacot believed it represented the best of precision timekeeping. In 1911, the company was renamed to Fabrique des Montres Zenith S.A. after the prized movement.

To further support vertical integration of watch manufacturing, Zenith purchased movement maker Martel in 1959. Through the acquisition, and at the direction of Zenith leadership, the company began work on an automatic chronograph movement that was to commemorate the watchmaker's 100th anniversary. In 1969, four years after the original target date, they announce their achievement with the El Primero movement.

Due to ongoing naming disputes with the Zenith Radio Company, 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.

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.^[2] 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 breathed new life into the struggling brand.^{[citation needed]} In 1999, as watch consortiums (led by Swatch Group) began to acquire brands, LVMH purchased Zenith for $48.4 million USD,^[3] which continues to be a part of the luxury goods conglomerate today.

George Favre-Bulls was born in 1843. At the age of nine he stopped attending school to pursue an apprenticeship in watchmaking, and by the age of 13, he had already established his own business. He married Louise-Philippine Jacot-Descombes at the age of 20, and was known from that point on as George Favre-Jacot. He died in 1917 at the age of 74.^{[citation needed]}

Favre-Jacot at some time requested that a house be built for himself at Le Locle, by the architect

At the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition, Zenith won its first award for chronometry and in honor of that award, the manufacturer released the Grand Prix Paris 1900 pocket watch featuring a depiction of the prize on the case.^{[citation needed]} In the 1920s, Zenith developed the Calibre 26x series of chronometers based on an 8-day car clock, which were used for both marine and observatory competitions.^{[citation needed]} In the 1940s, Zenith continued their efforts to develop precision movements, and won five straight (1950-1954) Neuchatel Observatory prizes with their Caliber 135.^{[citation needed]} In total, Zenith has won over 2,300 prizes for chronometry.^{[citation needed]}

Today, while very few Zenith timepieces feature COSC certification (required to display the word "Chronometer" on the dial), the wristwatches meet or exceed these rigorous timekeeping standards, reflecting Zenith's history of innovative precision timekeeping.^{[citation needed]}

Currently, Zenith has the following collections:^[5]

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

Previous collections include:

• Academy
• Captain
• Class
• Clipper
• Cosmopolitan
• De Luca (1988-1996) - Automatic chronograph
• Epervier
• Espada
• Port Royal
• Rainbow (1992-1999) - Automatic chronograph. Named for a William Starling Burgess Design J Class sailboat that won the 1934 America's Cup.
• Respirator
• Silhouette
• Sporto
• Star
• Stellina
• Surf

The El Primero

A decade later, when it was resurrected in 1986.[9] the same tools, plans and components helped start the production of the El Primero again.^[6][7]

It was one of the first automatic

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, and aided by the manufacturer's first utilization of CAD, they developed an ultra-thin movement that ranged from 2.83mm to 6.20mm of thickness, depending on the inclusion of complications. Operating at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz), and featuring an annual Glucydur balance wheel, a self-compensating balance spring, and an automatic winding system with a large diameter tungsten carbide rotor mounted on ball bearings, the movement was designed for precision timekeeping that required minimal maintenance. When introduced at BaselWorld in 1994, it was awarded the title of "Best Movement of the Year".^{[citation needed]}

Under Jean-Frederic Dufour 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.^{[citation needed]}

The first wristwatches to include the movement were released in a similarly named Elite collection, which remain a feature of the present-day collection. Additionally, the movement has been a feature of the Defy collection.^{[citation needed]}

The current CEO (and President) of Zenith is Benoit de Clerck, who was named into the role in January 2024.

• Julien Tornare (LVMH) - April 2017 to January 2024
• Jean-Claude Biver (LVMH) - January 2017 to April 2017
• Aldo Magada (LVMH) - July 2014 to January 2017
• Jean-Frédéric Dufour (LVMH) - June 2009 to April 2014
• Theirry Nataf (LVMH) - October 2001 - April 2009
• François Manfredini (LVMH) - November 1999 - October 2001
• Paul Castella (Dixi) - 1978-1999

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  Chronograph El Primero, first version 1970
• 
  Zenith El Primero
• 
  Zenith El Primero
• 
  Zenith El Primero
• 
  Zenith El Primero
• 
  El Primero De Luca,
  Ref #02.2310.400
• 
  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

• List of watch manufacturers
• Manufacture d'horlogerie
• History of clockmaking in Besançon

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zenith SA.

• Zenith official website