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Zenith’s story has one of the great dramatic arcs in watchmaking. The brand was founded in 1865. It developed one of the most important mechanical movements ever created, the El Primero, in 1969. That movement was nearly destroyed during the Quartz Crisis when Zenith’s management ordered its tooling dismantled. A single watchmaker, Charles Vermot, secretly hid the tooling, stamping equipment, and technical drawings in the attic of the manufacture. When the mechanical watch market revived in the 1980s, Vermot retrieved what he had saved, and the El Primero was reborn. It has been in continuous production since, and its high-frequency architecture has powered watches for Zenith, Rolex, TAG Heuer, and others.
Today, Zenith is part of LVMH (alongside Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Bvlgari) and is headquartered in Le Locle, where it has operated since its founding 160 years ago. The brand celebrated their anniversary in 2025 with a series of commemorative releases. Under LVMH ownership, Zenith has been repositioned around two main collections, the Chronomaster and the Defy, both built on the El Primero’s legacy of high-frequency precision. The brand’s challenge has been converting its undeniable horological credibility into the kind of cultural visibility that its LVMH stablemates enjoy.
Origins and the El Primero
Georges Favre-Jacot founded Zenith in Le Locle in 1865, at the age of 22. His innovation was not a specific watch or movement but an organizational one: he brought all of the watchmaking trades (dial making, case making, movement assembly, finishing) under a single roof at a time when the Swiss industry was still largely organized as a cottage industry of dispersed specialists. This vertical integration made Zenith one of the first true manufactures in the modern sense.
The El Primero (“the first” in Esperanto) debuted on January 10, 1969, as one of the world’s first automatic chronograph movements. It operates at a frequency of 36,000 vibrations per hour (5Hz), higher than the 28,800 vph standard used by most Swiss movements. This high frequency allows the El Primero to measure elapsed time to 1/10th of a second, a capability that most chronograph movements cannot match. The movement’s column-wheel chronograph mechanism and integrated (rather than modular) architecture make it one of the most technically accomplished chronograph calibers ever produced.
The El Primero’s survival through the Quartz Crisis is one of watchmaking’s most celebrated stories. When Zenith’s management decided to pivot to quartz production in the late 1970s and ordered the mechanical chronograph tooling destroyed, watchmaker Charles Vermot recognized what was about to be lost. He secretly dismantled key components, dies, presses, and technical plans, and hid them behind a false wall in the manufacture’s attic. When the mechanical revival began in the 1980s, Vermot retrieved the hidden materials and the El Primero was put back into production. The movement subsequently powered the Rolex Daytona from 1988 to 2000 (as the Rolex caliber 4030), bringing Zenith’s engineering to one of the most famous watches in the world.
The Collections
The Chronomaster is Zenith’s heritage-focused collection, built around the El Primero chronograph in its most traditional expression. The Chronomaster Sport, introduced in 2021, has become the brand’s most commercially successful modern watch. It features a 41mm steel case, a tricolor subdial layout (blue, light gray, and anthracite registers that echo the original 1969 El Primero dial), and the El Primero 3600 movement with 1/10th-of-a-second chronograph precision. Retail price is approximately $9,400 to $10,600 in steel. The Chronomaster Original preserves the classic 38mm El Primero case size and design proportions.
The Defy is Zenith’s contemporary and sport-focused collection. The Defy Skyline, introduced in 2022, is an integrated-bracelet sport watch with an angular, faceted case design and the El Primero 3620 movement. It is available as a time-only model (with a distinctive 1/10th-of-a-second running indicator at 6 o’clock), a chronograph, a skeleton, and a tourbillon skeleton. The Skyline has quickly become Zenith’s second pillar alongside the Chronomaster. Retail prices range from approximately $7,000 for the time-and-date to $12,800 for the skeleton and $23,600 for the chronograph in ceramic.
The Defy Extreme houses Zenith’s most technically ambitious complications, including the Defy Extreme Chroma with its dual-escapement El Primero 9004 caliber capable of measuring time to 1/100th of a second. The Defy collection also serves as a platform for material experimentation, with cases in titanium, ceramic, carbon fiber, and combinations thereof. At LVMH Watch Week 2026, Zenith introduced six new Defy models including the first Skyline Tourbillon Skeleton.
The Manufacture
Zenith operates one of the most historically significant manufactures in Switzerland, in the same Le Locle building that Georges Favre-Jacot established in the nineteenth century. The facility produces the El Primero and Elite caliber families in-house, from raw materials through to finished movements. The El Primero’s 278 components are manufactured, assembled, and regulated under one roof, maintaining the vertical integration that Favre-Jacot pioneered over 160 years ago.
The Elite caliber, a thinner, simpler automatic movement, powers Zenith’s non-chronograph watches and is also supplied to other LVMH brands. This dual role as both a finished watch brand and a movement supplier within the LVMH group echoes Zenith’s historical position as a maker of calibers for other houses.
Buying Zenith Today
Zenith watches are available at authorized retailers and Zenith boutiques, with distribution supported by LVMH’s global infrastructure. Availability is good across the lineup, with no significant waitlists for standard production models. Retail prices range from approximately $5,500 for a Defy Skyline time-and-date to $9,400 to $10,600 for a Chronomaster Sport to upward of $20,000 for complication and ceramic references.
On the secondary market, Zenith offers strong value. A Chronomaster Sport that retails for approximately $10,000 can be found pre-owned for $6,500 to $8,000. A Defy Skyline for $4,500 to $6,000. These are prices for watches powered by one of the most important chronograph movements in history, produced by a genuine manufacture with 160 years of continuous operation. The El Primero’s 5Hz frequency, column-wheel chronograph, and 1/10th-of-a-second precision are specifications that few competitors at any price can match.
Zenith’s position in the market is similar to that of several brands profiled in this series: the watchmaking substance significantly exceeds the brand’s mainstream recognition. The El Primero powered the Rolex Daytona for over a decade. The Defy collection offers integrated-bracelet sport watches with in-house high-frequency movements at prices below Tudor. For the collector who buys on mechanical merit rather than brand perception, Zenith is one of the most compelling options in the $5,000 to $12,000 range.
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This article is for informational purposes only. Prices, secondary market values, and specifications are approximate and based on market conditions as of early 2026. Zenith is a registered trademark of LVMH Swiss Manufactures SA, a subsidiary of LVMH. Tempo is not affiliated with or endorsed by Zenith or LVMH.