![]() Looking back, for me, the significance of the brand was summed up by none other than the current Rolex CEO Jean Frederic Dufour (in a 2012 interview with Ivan Radja as the then CEO of Zenith with Worldtempus): ‘Founded in 1865, the brand was one of the first to embed its craftsmanship in an industrial framework, along with Omega or Longines. At least as impressive as the equally unimaginable number of more than 300 patents and 600 watch movements developed by Zenith to date, which is probably only surpassed by Jaeger-LeCoultre, a brand that, however, in the early years was primarily known for equipping many third-party brands with its movements as a supplier. This is still an absolute record among Swiss watch manufacturers and simply impressive. To date, it can boast the incredible number of 2333 chronometer awards, 1565 of which were first prizes. Speaking of prizes and triumphs, Zenith has always stood for the accuracy of its watches and movements. Thirteen years earlier, he had introduced a pocket watch calibre that won a grand prize at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris and went on to conquer the world. The renaming took place in the very year in which Georges Favre-Jacot left the company. ![]() But few know: the entire company, which Georges Favre-Jacot founded in 1865 in Le Locle in the Swiss Jura valley, was named after an earlier, equally successful line of models that were more than just a movement caliber: the celebrated ‘Zenith’ Pocket watches from 1897, which entailed different caliber variations, just like the El Primero after it. The El Primero, introduced in 1969, is described here. The company name Zenith is doubly associated with famous models and movements. Anyone who still doubts this should read this story (and hurry, because prices are rising rapidly). This is a double opportunity for newcomers: to make their mark as collectors of tomorrow, and at the same time to profit from the coming rise. It only goes into more detail in the book by Joel Duval (Zenith – The History of a Star, published on the occasion of the company’s 150th anniversary in 2015), from which many of the historical details of this story are also taken and to whom special thanks are therefore due.įor me, not only after reading it, the most amazing thing about Zenith – if you take a closer look at its 158-year uninterrupted history – is that this brand is very high up today, but not yet quite in the ‘Zenith’ of collector brands, next to Rolex, Patek, AP and Co., where it actually belongs. My colleague, Nico Bandl, has written down the history in a nutshell for Swisswatches Magazine. Zenith: even the company name comes from a movementīefore we discuss the famous movement, our first lines are dedicated to the Swiss manufacture that created it. Since what has become synonymous with a watch and a movement, was originally introduced as a line of watches in 1969, not a single watch or a movement. We tell the story of this famous watch line and its even more famous movement. ![]() It is certainly no coincidence that only in this case in mechanical watch history have the name of the watch and its movement become one and the same for many fans: El Primero. If you ask yourself which movement has influenced the entire mechanical watch world more than almost any other in the last 54 years, you will inevitably end up with the Swiss manufacture Zenith. After all, the starting point for new watch designs has historically always been technological progress, which often only needed a new face as a second step. But anyone who takes a closer look at superstars such as the Cosmograph Daytona by Rolex, the Nautilus by Patek Philippe, or the Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet, will quickly discover: there is more behind every great watch than good marketing – and at least one equally important movement, or often even a whole series of important movements. This is perfectly fair, given these names were created to be remembered. Most of the young watch collectors of today are looking for the names of famous watch models.
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