Zenith (watch manufacturer)
| Zenith, succursale de LVMH Swiss Manufactures SA
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_logo.svg&filetimestamp=20091017182405&){kind=logo} |
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| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1865 |
| Seat | Le Locle , Switzerland |
| management | Julien Tornare |
| Branch | Watch manufacturer |
| Website | www.zenith-watches.com |
The watch manufacturer Zenith in Le Locle was founded in 1865 on the initiative of Georges Favre-Jacot in Switzerland as "Fabrique des Billodes".
In 1911 the company was transformed into a public limited company called "Fabrique des Montres Zenith". The name Zenith goes back to the following incident: One evening, Georges Favre-Jacot completed a clockwork that he thought was better than any previous one. When he stepped out into the starry night shortly afterwards and directed his gaze to the sky, the celestial mechanics seemed to him like the interplay of the wheels and pins of a clockwork and he decided to name his new clockwork and also his manufacture after the highest point in the universe: Zenith . In addition, to match the name, he chose a five-pointed star as the company logo .
Towards the end of the 1960s, Zenith and the watch agency Movado ( Esperanto ; German: "always in motion"), which had been operating in the USA since 1924 , worked together in Le Locle , whose headquarters were relocated to Le Locle in 1971.
On January 10, 1969, Zenith presented the first automatic chronograph movement El Primero, developed after two years of work, with 36,000 vibrations per hour, and thus won the prestigious race with the Breitling and Hamilton-Büren companies .
Today, "El Primero" is considered the best-known work in its class; it is superior to the comparable plants Lemania 5100 and Valjoux 7750 from ETA due to its high number of vibrations of 36,000 vibrations per hour (corresponds to 5 Hz , 21,600 and 28,800 vibrations per hour are common, i.e. 3 or 4 Hz) and its high manufacturing quality.
In 1994 the extra-thin automatic movement Elite was presented.
Zenith and the luxury brand TAG Heuer have been part of the French luxury goods manufacturer Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (LVMH) since 1999 . Until the company was sold in 1999, Zenith was part of the Swiss industrial group Dixi Holding Le Locle . Dixi took over Zenith in 1978.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ F. von Osterhausen: Movado - always in motion. In: Old clocks. No. 3, 1991, pp. 9-24, and No. 4, 1991, pp. 9-24.
- ^ Helmut Kahlert , Richard Mühe , Gisbert L. Brunner , Christian Pfeiffer-Belli: wrist watches: 100 years of development history. Callwey, Munich 1983; 5th edition ibid. 1996, ISBN 3-7667-1241-1 , p. 490 f.