“The Zenith manufacture itself has been around for more than a century and is certified as a UNESCO heritage site”
the stamping tools and the movement sketches in the attic in 1974. Almost half a decade later, the company was given back to Swiss proprietors who managed to settle Zenith back to its mechanical roots.
in The 21sT cenTury
Zenith’s historical roots are alive and well at the modern-day manufacture. The aforementioned attic has been preserved almost exactly as it was before, stocked with age-old stamping tools and drawings worthy of a major display in any museum of horology.
Unlike those sketches of the past, the production of the brand’s 21st century mechanical timepieces now involve digital rendering and 3D printing for the prototypes. At the Design & Development block, the engineers are busy perfecting little details that will mostly go unseen. One example shown during my visit is the changing numbers on a date display complication. For even such a simple complication, the brand insists on thorough inspection of how fast it goes and how precise the dates shift, since effects of the smallest disruption would accumulate. While savoring this rare presentation, I noticed how quiet the manufacture is, which allowed the engineers to concentrate deeply as they tinkered with the mechanical conceptions.
The great legacy of Charles Vermot came to light in the next hall: the Mechanical department. To this very day, watch components—like baseplates, bridges and so on—are produced using stamping tools. While many are done using machines (24-hour CNC machines), some still rely on manual labor. The process is deceivingly simple: Put a brass plate on a stamping panel and then press the head stamp to precisely cut the desired component. Of course, for a proper watch component, the workers need to finely polish the edges and clean it through. A number of the stamping tools are uniquely made for Zenith’s watch components (especially for high-end pieces like the Academy Christophe Colomb watch), which explains why every tool is precious.
One of the last production blocks is the pre-assembly and assembly section. From jewel settings for the movement to the product testing and decoration, every activity demands absolute concentration. The latter, moreover, may consist of creating perlage (a repetitive circular pattern on the surface of a movement) to polishing the components’ edges. While these tasks would require exceptional eyesight, another important task relies on a different set of senses. The fast beat of the El Primero makes a distinctive pulsating sound, and specially trained engineers will actually listen to it to ensure consistency. Aside from the El Primero, they also measure the frequency of the Elite movement.
With over 250 people working at the manufacture, Zenith has now been able to churn out around 50,000 movements per year. That doesn’t yet include the newly introduced El Primero 21 and more innovations to come. And we are, I’m sure, still only scratching at the surface of it all.