Zenith

Zenith began in Le Locle in 1865 as the watch factory of Georges Favre-Jacot, the name its founder, born Favre-Bulle, took on marrying.^1, 2, 3

Its works on the rue des Billodes grew into an industrial site that brought the watch trades under one roof. Zenith calls it "the first integrated watch manufacture in Switzerland" and says it covered 17,000 m2 and was linked to Le Locle station; the "first" is the company's claim: Jaeger-LeCoultre says LeCoultre united all the crafts under one roof at Le Sentier in 1866, and Longines dates its factory to 1867.^{2, 3, 6, 7}

The firm grew fast: 291 employees in 1882 and 1,200 in 1914, according to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland; Zenith says up to 2,000 in the early 20th century.^1, 2

Sources disagree on the name. Zenith says its calibre won the Grand Prix at the Paris exhibition of 1900 and the firm took the name from it; the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland says the company was renamed after a movement created in 1905, when it became SA Fabrique de montres Zénith in 1911; English Wikipedia gives 1912.^1, 2, 4

In 1911 Favre-Jacot handed the management to Jämes Favre, his nephew and son-in-law.^1, 3

Until the mid-1940s the company also made war and aviation material and ran a foundry.^1, 8

The Espace Horloger at Le Sentier says Zenith opened a factory there, in the Vallée de Joux, in 1917; it passed to LeCoultre in 1927.⁹

From 1949 to 1972 its capital was in the hands of the bank DuPasquier-Montmollin; an American buyer (Zenith Radio Corporation) took over in 1972, the Le Locle machine-tool maker Dixi in 1978, and LVMH in 1999.^1, 4

The automatic chronograph movement El Primero went on sale in 1969.^1, 4