Zenith’s answer to the grace of a unique woman, watches with a touch of magic: choose your special letter or numeral and have it mounted on the dial in a constellation of mother-of-pearl and diamonds. A perfect example of Haute Couture.

Beyond time, beyond style, upstream of function, there is a vision: reaching ultimate perfection. That is the essence, the very creed of ACADEMY, a collection of veritable masterpieces that pay tribute to the great watchmaking tradition in its rarest expression. Made by the hand of man and 140 years of history, the ACADEMY Tourbillons and “Perpetual Calendars” celebrate ancestral know-how, exalt the watchmaker’s love of detail and give the watchmaker’s skill due honour.

This watchmaking masterpiece enriched with 230 pure Wesselton diamonds totaling 9.8 carats, combines two technical achievements. On the one hand, the El Primero movement, the only chronograph in the world with a heart beating at 36,000 vibrations per hour enabling tenth of a second accuracy; on the other, the Tourbillon defies the effects of the earth’s gravity by enclosing the escapement in a gyroscopic cage.

But beyond the technical is the dream… thus, the bridge of the Tourbillon is replaced by a diamond star, repeated on the crown, whilst the 117 baguette diamonds enhance the case, reduced to 40mm, and 112 round diamonds embellish the dial. On the mother-of-pearl dial, the numerals meet in unlikely complicity, whilst stars replace the hands of the chronograph. Choose either a galuchat or ottoman strap.

This year ZENITH Manufacture is adding two masterpieces to this top of the range collection, a new El Primero Tourbillon and a Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon.

The Tourbillon ? One of the greatest horological complications, daring to defy the effects of the earth’s gravity by enclosing the escapement in a gyroscopic cage. Combining it with the El Primero movement, the legendary chronographbeating at 36,000 vibrations per hour, seemed an impossible undertaking. The brilliant ZENITH Manufacture engineers did it, thus creating the fastest Tourbillon in the world.

Although this is an El Primero, the 2007 version is not a chronograph. Its diameter, for example, has been reduced to 40mm and only displays hours and minutes, although the heart beats at a rate of 36,000 vibrations, thus ensuring a timepiece of extreme precision , accurate to a tenth of a second. It can be seen beating in its cage, completing one turn in one minute. This is the new 4041 calibre.

Sober functionality but majestic refinement, this watch is atypical because of the asymmetrical design of the numerals. Each one, made of solid gold, has been individually sculptured. Primus inter pares, the XI Roman numeral, deliberately oversized, acts as the tourbillon bridge. The barleycorn guilloche dial and the oscillating components are also 18 carat rose gold.

What is a “Perpetual Calendar”? An ode to eternity: when wound, it displays time, date, day, month and year accurately for a century, with no need for adjustment. So time is no longer an instant to be recorded, time we waste or time we do not have; this is generous and constructive time that opens onto infinity.

By putting together the Tourbillon, the “Perpetual Calendar” and the El Primero chronograph, ZENITH has combined three legendary watchmaking complications, and is thus able to propose a unique timepiece, an ode to eternity and to precision that only a great Manufacture is capable of designing.

A 45mm diameter rose gold case houses this new El Primero 4033 calibre, comprising 492 parts and 35 rubies. The double gaudron, the work on the dial, the sword-shaped hands are harmonious and classical in style, only the asymmetric numerals dare to strike a different note, bringing a touch of originality to this watchmaking masterpiece. Once again the tourbillon cage is fixed to the XI Roman numeral. A work of art in itself, the dial has two different guilloche patterns: wavy on the 3 dials of the perpetual calendar and barleycorn for the rest, with not less than eight hands. Everything is hand crafted solid gold, from the circles to the hands, including the numerals. The integral black alligator strap has a triple folding clasp in rose gold weighing 24 grams.

The ACADEMY collection, and in particular the two most recent creations, is therefore intended for the man who stands above the ordinary. An aesthete, an academic, this man loves art, absolute beauty and rare objects. In a world where fashions come and go, where everything dates, he knows that only exceptional objects make history.

See the Luxe Galleria Watch Gallery for high resolution pictures.

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