Worn & Wound
Introducing the Zenith G.F.J., a Chronometry Focused Tribute to the Brand’s Founder
Last year, I had the privilege of sitting down with Benoit de Clerck to talk about all things Zenith. At the time, Benoit was just a few short months into his tenure as CEO of Zenith, and Watches & Wonders was only barely in the rearview, but de Clerck made it very clear that he was already looking ahead, not just generally, but towards something very specific, and very exciting. “I’m working hard on something new next year, which - obviously - I like, because it’s very unique, and we’re producing very small quantities and all that. And, I can’t tell you much more, but next year we’re celebrating our 160th year and we will come up with something that the collectors will be very, very, very happy with.” Well, now, nearly a year later, we know what that “something new” is, and de Clerck was absolutely right - because it is something to be very, very happy with. I’m talking, of course, about the new Zenith G.F.J. G.F.J., in this case, stands for Georges Favre-Jacot, the name of the man who founded Zenith some 160 years ago, but it might as well stand for ‘Great F***ing Job’ because Zenith has knocked it out of the park with this one. At the heart of the G.F.J. is a revived version of the calibre 135, a historically significant and long-dormant movement, designed by Ephrem Jobin in the years after World War II and produced from 1949 to 1962. The Calibre 135 was widely used by Zenith at that time, but especially prized is the 135-O variant created...
