Zenith SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker. The company was started in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot in Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel and is one of the oldest continuously operating watchmakers. Favre-Jacot invented the concept of “in house movements”, believing that only through control of the entire watchmaking process could the highest quality be achieved. Zenith was purchased by LVMH in November 1999, becoming one of several brands in its watch and jewellery division, which includes TAG Heuer and Hublot. Julien Tornare is president and CEO.

In 1865, at the age of 22, George Farve-Jacot begin manufacturing watches under his name at a small workshops in Le Locle, Switzerland. After witnessing the success of American watch companies Waltham and Elgin utilizing mass production to sell affordable and reliable timepieces, he invested heavily in his own company to create a vertically integrated watchmaking operation, becoming the first manufacture d’horlogerie. At the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, George Farve-Jacot & Co. was awarded the Grand Prix for their “Zenith” movement, so named because Farve-Jacot believed it represented the best of precision timekeeping. In 1911, the company was renamed after the prized movement.

To further support vertical integration of watch manufacturing, Zenith purchased movement maker Martel in 1959. Through the acquisition, and at the direction of Zenith leadership, the company began work on an automatic chronograph movement, and in 1969 was the first to announce their achievement with the El Primero movement.

Due to ongoing naming disputes with the Zenith Radio Company, the company was unable to achieve a sizable market share in the United States. In 1968, Zenith merged with Movado (and later Mondia as Movado-Zenith-Mondia) to sell in the United States under the already established Movado brand. With the popularity of quartz watches increasing, Zenith Radio Company decided to enter the market in 1972 through acquisition of Zenith, joining the two companies of the same name. It was during this ownership that production of mechanical movements was halted and the production shifted to quartz movements, a move meant to save the company, but ultimately led to it being put up for sale in 1978.

Dixi, who already had purchased many struggling Swiss watchmakers, purchased Movado-Zenith-Mondia from Zenith Radio Company in 1978 under the leadership of Paul Castella. While the other brands under the consortium slowly shuttered production due to the Quartz Crisis, Zenith was continuing to produce wristwatches as it struggled to survive. As automatic movements began to come back into demand, Ebel (and later Rolex) sourced the El Primero movement for their own chronograph timepieces, which breathed new life into the struggling brand. In 1999, as watch consortiums (led by Swatch Group) began to acquire brands, LVMH purchased Zenith for $48.4 million USD, which continues to be a part of the luxury goods conglomerate today.