Zenith - What Constitutes Classic
WORLDTEMPUS - 1 March 2010
At Baselworld 2010, Zenith will present a far more "classic" collection than this brand under the umbrella of LVMH since 1999 has done in the last ten years. Jean-Frederic Dufour became Zenith's new CEO in June of last year, and it would seem that one of his priorities has been to redesign the collection to more closely resemble the Le Locle-based brand's traditional ideals before the takeover. This was bly exemplified by the three-handed watch that could be previewed in Geneva in January, and now through the debut of the new El Primero Foudroyante—a classically designed chronograph with the added mystique of a foudroyante second hand making its lightning-fast rounds in increments of 1/10th of a second.
Plans for Zenith
"I see Zenith continuing to be the leader in manufacturing chronographs—especially with our El Primero movement with its high frequency of 36,000 vibrations per hour," Dufour explains his take on Zenith's position in the watch industry. "Every watch manufactured by Zenith is equipped with Zenith's own mechanical movement, ensuring that the watch is entirely Zenith-made. This allows Zenith the control over design aesthetics and the technical quality of the watch, making sure that none is compromised."
Dufour promises "a beautiful new collection for 2010" and very much looks forward to presenting it to the world at Baselworld 2010, which opens its doors in 18 days. " timepieces that unite all our values in one phrase: obsession for precision."
Classic
Dufour has very distinct ideas on what constitutes a "classic" watch. "A classic watch has more than a timeless character and value," he says. "It must also be precise! Caliber 135, used in our very classical watches in the 1950s and '60s was one of the most wonderful classic watch models realized in modern watchmaking history. It earned the largest number of precision prizes for one caliber."
Dufour also believes that "classic" will play a big part in the way watches continue to be made in the watch industry as a whole, and particularly at Zenith. " won't change our way of making watches because we have always manufactured 100 percent of our movement parts ourselves in-house. And this is a very important basic factor that will be continued devotedly by all our watchmakers, engineers and entire teams."
The new limited edition chronograph is housed in a 42 mm case—the size perhaps its only concession to anything resembling a trend—crafted in stainless steel (1,969 pieces in celebration of the debut year of the first automatic chronograph) or rose gold (500 pieces).
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