Zenith Watches

Founded in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot in Le Locle, Zenith is one of the few Swiss manufactures that survived the quartz crisis with its industrial movement-making capability intact — largely because a worker named Charles Vermot hid the El Primero tooling in 1975 against management orders to scrap it. That decision preserved one of the most important automatic chronograph calibers in horological history.

The El Primero, introduced in 1969, was the first integrated automatic chronograph movement (developed in parallel with the Heuer/Breitling Caliber 11 and the Seiko 6139). It beats at 5 Hz (36,000 vph), allowing 1/10-second timing — still rare today — and provided the chronograph movement for the Rolex Daytona from 1988 to 2000. The Chronomaster line continues this lineage, while the Defy collection houses the brand's contemporary high-frequency and skeleton work, and the Pilot revives Zenith's early-twentieth-century aviation heritage.

Pricing typically runs $7,000 to $15,000 for current Chronomaster references — competitive with Omega Speedmaster and below most Breitling chronograph flagships.