Zenith Watches

About Zenith Watches

In 1865, Georges Favre-Jacot founded Zenith at the young age of twenty-two, naming the brand after the highest point in the universe. Efficiency was an initial company goal, and Favre-Jacot created a company that ran exponentially faster than other companies in that time period, and is credited with inventing the concept of the modern-day manufacture.

Zenith launched the Caliber 135 in 1948, and it went on to receive over 200 awards for accuracy and design. The Caliber 5011K, which boasted record-breaking precision fit for marine chronometers, arrived in 1960. In 1969 came the introduction of the iconic El Primero. While there continues to be much debate over who was truly the first to release the automatic chronograph, the El Primero was undeniably one of the first and definitively the most precise.

Zenith discontinued the production of mechanical movements (including the El Primero) during the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s. Thanks to Charles Vermot, one of the watchmakers involved in the development of the El Primero, Zenith was able to produce their signature movement again in 1984, after the height of the quartz craze faded. The brand later unveiled the Elite in 1994, an ultra-thin automatic movement that was the first caliber for which Zenith employed Computer Assisted Design technology.

In the new millennium, the LVMH group purchased Zenith. With the resources of a larger company, Zenith has been able to expand its offerings over the past several years. We've seen numerous variations of the El Primero and incarnations of the Defy collection. Another notable model came in 2014 in anticipation of the brand’s impressive 150th anniversary. That year, they paid homage to the brand’s beloved founder with the Academy Georges Favre-Jacot with a high-frequency and time only model that featured a unique aperture showcasing a fuse and chain mechanism.