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Lot Essay
Zenith was founded in 1865 in Le Locle by the young Swiss watchmaker Georges-Emile Favre-Bulle (1843-1917) under the name of Georges Favre-Jacot & Cie. In the years to come, the company manufactured high quality deck watches and pocket chronometers and won a Gold Medal at the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva in 1896. One year later, in 1897, Georges Favre registred a new trademark, the curved name "Zenith" over a landscape and starry sky.
Caliber 135, the present chronometer movement, was introduced to the market in 1948 and awarded in 1954 the Neuchâtel Observatory Prize in the wrist-chronometer category for a movement produced in series. Between 1948 and 1962, Zenith produced 11,000 examples of caliber 135, many of them with an official chronometer certificate.
In 1969, the company introduced the world's first automatic chronograph movement, the celebrated "El Primero". Oscillating at 36,000 alternations/hour, the El Primero was able to measure short time intervals to a tenth of a second, an unsurpassed world record.
Caliber 135, the present chronometer movement, was introduced to the market in 1948 and awarded in 1954 the Neuchâtel Observatory Prize in the wrist-chronometer category for a movement produced in series. Between 1948 and 1962, Zenith produced 11,000 examples of caliber 135, many of them with an official chronometer certificate.
In 1969, the company introduced the world's first automatic chronograph movement, the celebrated "El Primero". Oscillating at 36,000 alternations/hour, the El Primero was able to measure short time intervals to a tenth of a second, an unsurpassed world record.