Zenith watches - Swiss Watchmaking Since 1865. Swiss luxury watches for men and women, combining noble watchmaking traditions with avant-garde innovations. 22-year-old Georges Favre-Jacot started Zenith SA in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Having invented the world’s fastest and most accurate mechanical chronograph movement, the El Primero, and accomplished many other firsts. In the 20th century, during the quartz crisis, Zenith’s watchmaker Charles Vermot hid all the plans and parts for the El Primero mechanical movement when the owners threatened to destroy them and move to quartz technology.