In spite of the many obstacles standing in the way, ZENITH exists to encourage people to follow their passions and make their dreams a reality. From Louis Blériot’s historic flight across the English Channel to Felix Baumgartner’s record-setting stratospheric free-fall jump, ZENITH watches have accompanied extraordinary figures who have dreamed big and striven to achieve the impossible since the company was founded in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacout.

Favre-Jacot, Zenith’s founder, won a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition for his innovative pocket chronograph, which made its debut that same year. El Primero, introduced by Zenith in 1969, was the first automatic chronograph with an integrated movement. El Primero is still the only caliber that can measure short times down to the tenth of a second and is the world’s most precise series-made caliber.

The LVMH group acquired Zenith in the year 2000. El Primero, the company’s most famous in-house movement, is still in production, making Zenith one of the few Swiss watchmakers to do so. Zenith has been making timepieces for a very long time, and in that time it has created 600 different types of movements and filed 300 patents for its engineering marvels. As a result, the watchmaker has won 2,333 awards for timekeeping precision since 1903.