Those who have been able to visit a Zenith watch factory can appreciate impeccable spaces like operating rooms, stealthy and full of professionals focused on their work.
In these spaces, up to 80 people from different trades such as craftsmen, engineers, goldsmiths, among others, can meet.
This is the greatness that lies behind each watch of this manufacture and today we will unveil some curiosities about the brand.
Nine Months, Average Time To Create A Zenith Watch.
In 1969 Zenith left an indelible mark in the world of watchmaking, that year they launched the world’s first automatic chronograph caliber, dubbed the “El Primero”.
Liberating the battle against Seiko and the Chronomatic group, which was made up of giants such as Breitling, Heuer, Hamilton and Buren.
All of them wanted to be the first to present the first self-winding chronograph, but Zenith won the game.
The 3019 PHC caliber is considered a masterpiece and is the main piece of the puzzle that makes up the El Primero caliber family.
It is estimated that the manufacture of a Zenith El Primero watch can take an average of nine months and more than 150 people are involved in this process.
Mahatma Gandi had a Zenith watch.
Mahatma Gandi had a Zenith watch.Gandhi is recognized worldwide as a practitioner of non-violent civil disobedience, a pacifist, politician, thinker and lawyer of Indian origin.
He was characterized by having few material goods, therefore, few people can imagine that the character had among his possessions a branded watch.
The silver pocket watch accompanied him during his daily life, he used it to indicate the moments of prayer thanks to its alarm function.
Zenith was marketed in India from 1901 and a friend of Gandhi gave him this pocket watch as a gift.
On one occasion it was stolen, but the thief felt remorse and returned it six months later.
It was later learned that the Zenith pocket watch was sold for $2 million at auction in New York in 2009.
3. Zenith Watches, Conquering The Poles.
More than a century ago, specifically on December 14, 1911, the Norwegian Roald Amundsen, commanding a team of five men, reached the South Pole for the first time in history.
Amundsen, known as the conqueror of the poles, used a ZENITH chronograph on many of his expeditions.
But this is not the only feat in which the manufacture has been present, also a zenith watch accompanied the explorer Johan Ernst Nilson in his adventures.
He reached the South Pole after crossing the globe from North to South in a year-long journey, a project known as Pole2Pole.
On his trip Johan E. Nilson wore on his wrist a special edition El Primero Stratos, capable of withstanding the most adverse conditions.
The Zenith Stratos watch was launched in a limited edition called Stratos Pole2Pole.
4. A Clock That Crossed the English Channel
The history of Zenith is very broad, it is also recognized for its involvement in the world of aviation since 1909.
At that time Louis Blériot crossed the English Channel wearing a Zenith watch and more than 60 years later a watch with the El Primero caliber passed another aeronautical test.
It was strapped to the landing gear of a Boeing 707, overcoming temperature and pressure fluctuations without altering its regular frequency.
5. A Multi-awarded Manufacture.
Today, the manufacture has more than 1,500 precision awards in the watch industry, is the most awarded Swiss brand for this concept and has more than 300 patents.
One of the most recent achievements is the Gravity Control gyroscopic module, which in 2011 won the award in the Grand Complication category at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
6. Not Always Called Zenith.
The history of Zenith, no different from other major watch brands, starts from a small family business.
It was in 1865 when the young and visionary Georges Emile Favre Bulle founded Le Locle, Neuchâtel (Switzerland) Le Fabrique des Billodes, to manufacture pocket watches.
He quickly gained fame and in 1896 the company was renamed Georges Faver-Jacot et Cie. In homage to his wife Louise Jacot-Descombes.
In 1911 it was renamed Zenith, to refer to its newest line of watches and named after the highest point in the sky.
7. Between 320 to 450 pieces make up a Zenith Primero watch.
7. Between 320 to 450 pieces make up a Zenith Primero watch.Nowadays a Zenit El Primero watch can contain between 320 pieces if it is the simple one to 450 the most complicated ones.
Its manufacture may go through 2,500 operations in total before it is exposed to the public.
8. Merged in 1999 with the LVMH Group.
In 1999, Zenith joined the LVMH group (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy SA), a luxury goods colossus.
Thus they are positioned among the luxury watch brands of superior class and continue to innovate with new mechanisms and models.
9. A Leap From The Stratosphere With A Zenith Watch.
Felix Baumgartner is an Austrian skydiver who became the first man to break the sound barrier by jumping from 39,000 m and reaching 1,137 km. /h.
During the feat he was wearing his Zenith El Primero Stratos Flyback Striking 10th watch, which also broke the sound barrier.
In a nutshell the model is the first watch capable of breaking the sound barrier, demonstrating the precision and quality of the watches.
To achieve this Baumgartner had to go through 5 years of preparation to break 3 records: the longest jump from a platform (128,100 meters), the longest distance in free fall (119,846 meters) and the maximum vertical speed (1,173 kilometers per hour).
Buy a Zenith Watch at a Good Price.
Zenith watches are highly esteemed in the buy and sell second hand watch markets.
Buying a watch from this manufacturer is a guarantee of quality and precision!
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