For the true watch fanatic, the story of Zenith isn’t merely a timeline of calibres and case shapes; it’s a narrative of audacity and continuity. Effectively, it’s a story of calibres and watches nevertheless it has a that means that speaks on to the rationale folks accumulate watches.
Because the Manufacture in Le Locle celebrates its A hundred and sixtieth anniversary in 2025, we glance again at a legacy outlined by a single, upward gaze — the identical gaze that impressed a younger visionary to call his firm after the best level within the evening sky. Not his personal title, however a great or objective.
One night, struck by the complexity of the cosmos, he noticed his mechanics as a mirror of the celestial order, adopting the title Zenith and the five-pointed star as his image. However we’re getting forward of ourselves as a result of Favre-Jacot was not only a starry-eyed dreamer however a sensible industrial wizard.
The story begins in 1865, within the frosty Jura mountains. Whereas the Swiss watchmaking business relied on a fragmented system of établissage – the place scattered artisans made particular person components – 22-year-old Georges Favre-Jacot dreamt of unity. He constructed the primary true manufacture in historical past, bringing each self-discipline of watchmaking beneath one roof in Le Locle. His objective was not simply effectivity, however the creation of the “good watch.” In its heyday, the manufacture sparked a change in how Swiss watchmaking organised itself.
This foundational determination to combine all expertise, what we name vertical integration at this time, is what allowed Zenith to change into the “Grasp of Chronometry.” By the mid-Twentieth century, the model had amassed an unbeaten document of two,333 chronometry prizes, a testomony to an obsession with precision that continues to be the model’s heartbeat at this time.
Savior within the Attic
After all, no story about Swiss watchmaking is full with out wholesome servings of drama. Zenith’s story of triumphs is accompanied by turns in the direction of catastrophe. Thus, no fanatic’s retelling of Zenith is full with out the legend of Charles Vermot.
When the Quartz Disaster threatened to erase mechanical watchmaking within the Seventies, it was Vermot, a humble chronograph specialist, who defied orders to scrap the tooling for the legendary El Primero. He secretly hid the presses and plans within the manufacture’s attic.
Vermot’s act of rebel saved the world’s first high-frequency computerized chronograph—launched in 1969 and beating at 36,000 vph or 5 Hz – guaranteeing that Zenith’s mechanical coronary heart would beat on. Right this moment, that coronary heart nonetheless beats and has established Zenith as a maker of correctly iconic chronographs.
The El Primero has additionally developed to beat quicker than ever, turning into the El Primero 9004. This motion is able to measuring 1/one hundredth of a second, with a second escapement devoted to the chronograph that beats on the phenomenal charge of 360,000 vph or 50 Hz.
Thus, Zenith’s A hundred and sixtieth anniversary isn’t just a celebration of survival, however of simultaneous continuity and revival. It’s why the manufacture not solely started in Le Locle, it stayed there and stays there at this time. It was the largest within the canton of Neuchatel and stays a powerful advanced of 18 buildings. It’s laborious to think about at this time however most of Swiss watchmaking is not the place it started, marking Zenith as really uncommon.
Swept alongside by the ebb and circulation of time, watchmaking’s industrial centres devolved into one thing resembling the provider community of the établissage, solely to be compelled into consolidation by the Quartz Disaster, then to fragment once more. It’s now as soon as extra on the crest of a wave of vertical integration. For its half, Zenith remained anchored in Le Locle, from the tough occasions all via to the renaissance of conventional watchmaking in early 21st century.
In 2025, Zenith created a bodily manifestation of its unyielding bridge between previous and current within the type of the G.F.J. watch. A tribute to its founder, the watch would possibly but be a beacon on that bridge, lighting the best way ahead in the direction of a hopeful future.
Powered by a contemporary re-engineering of the famed Calibre 135 – probably the most awarded motion within the golden age of observatory competitions – this platinum masterpiece lately gained the Chronometry Prize on the 2025 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). With a dial of deep lapis lazuli and a “brick” guilloché motif mimicking the manufacture’s façade, it serves as a tangible hyperlink between the Fifties chronometry battles and up to date haute horlogerie.
From the attic of the manufacture to the rostrum of the GPHG, Zenith proves that its story remains to be being written. It’s a story of those that don’t simply measure time, however dare to achieve for the star that guides them.
The Defy Excessive Lapis Lazuli
Precision That Radiates in Blue
If the G.F.J. represents the classical previous, the Defy Excessive Lapis Lazuli embodies the novel future. Launched as a part of the A hundred and sixtieth-anniversary celebrations, this restricted version of fifty items is a high-frequency wristwatch that fuses the model’s celestial inspiration with brutalist structure.
- The Dial: A slice of the cosmos. The openworked dial options counters crafted from lapis lazuli, a stone chosen for its deep celestial blue and pure pyrite inclusions that shimmer like distant stars. No two dials are alike.
- The Engine: The El Primero 9004 calibre. It options two unbiased escapements: one beating at 5Hz (36,000 vph) for the time, and a second beating at a staggering 50Hz (360,000 vph) for the chronograph. This permits the central hand to make a full rotation each second, carving time into 1/one hundredth of a second slices.
- The Armour: A 45mm case of polished chrome steel contrasted with a microblasted yellow gold dodecagonal bezel and pusher protectors, making a heat, matte radiance. That bezel itself is a two-piece marvel, with the highest half in chrome steel.
Like many up to date Zenith creations, the strap for the Defy Excessive Lapis Lazuli is effortlessly interchangeable. There are three choices right here, all included: a metal bracelet; a black embossed rubber strap with folding clasp; and a black Velcro strap.
Limitation: 50 items
Value: 32,900 CHF
For extra data, head to Zenith’s official web site right here.
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