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	Jean-Claude Biver (Interim CEO)
Parent	LVMH
Website	zenith-watches.com

Zenith SA is a Swiss watchmaker. The company was started in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot at the age of 22, in Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel. Zenith was purchased by LVMH in November 1999, becoming one of several brands in their watch and jewellery division. Jean-Claude Biver became Interim CEO in 2017, replaced CEO Aldo Magada, who replaced Jean-Frédéric Dufour in 2014. It is one of the Swiss watch manufacturers that still produce their own movements in-house. The El Primero calibre, which was first released in 1969, and still produced today, was one of the first automatic chronograph movements and has a frequency of 36,000 alternations per hour (5 Hz). This 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 alternations per hour (4 Hz). 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.

Favre-Jacot was born 1843 and died 1917. He was an apprentice within the watch making industry whilst within his youth. Favre-Jacot at some time requested a house be built for himself at Le Locle, from the architect Le Corbusier, 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 on the nature of production, to the extent to which they themselves somewhat reformed the artistic situation within francophone Switzerland at the time.

Chronograph El Primero, first version 1970

Zenith El Primero

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

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