Louis Vuitton 2011 Annual Report Download - page 98

LVMH 2011
—
Maisons
24 / 32
WATCHES & JEWELRY
This ambition is refl ected in its partner-
ships with F1 Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
team and its World Champions Lewis
Hamilton and Jenson Button, with Audi
Sport in the Le Mans 24 Hours and endur-
ance races, and also with the Automobile
Club of Monaco for the prestigious Monaco
Grand Prix.
As the official partner of the Monaco
Grand Prix, of Audi Sport for the Le Mans
24 Hours and of the Indy 500, TAG Heuer
is mastering speed on the three most
emblematic circuits of motor racing. More
recently, TAG Heuer has also become a
partner of Oracle Racing, the 34th America’s
Cup defender.
More than ever, the brand epitomizes
prestige and performance through active
partnerships with actress Cameron Diaz,
actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Shah Rukh
Khan and Chen DaoMing, Norwegian golf
star Suzann Pettersen and WTA tennis
champion Maria Sharapova.
Today TAG Heuer develops and manu-
factures its own movement: the Calibre
1887, a chronograph with an oscillating
pinion invented by Heuer in 1887, along
with the Monaco V4, a movement driven by
belts, as well as the Mikrograph, accurate to
1/100th of a second. This watchmaking
excellence has earned the company mem-
bership in the very exclusive circle of the
elite of Swiss watchmaking, the Fondation
de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH).
ZENITH
— Since 1865 —
Zenith was founded on a revolutionary
idea. In 1865, Georges Favre-Jacot was
twenty-two, had a remarkable knowledge
of watchmaking and had been training
apprentices before he even turned eight-
een. In the town of Le Locle in the Swiss
Jura, he brought together under one roof
the various artisans involved in the creation
of timepieces, from design to manufacture,
thus inventing the concept of the
“Manufacture” – and naturally this very
first Manufacture bore his name. Today,
Le Locle is classifi ed as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site for its industrial history and
for being the cradle of Swiss watchmaking.
The rich heritage of expertise left by
generations of artisans is still to be found
here – indeed, it never left – and the
Manufacture is still guided by the visionary
intuition of its founder that dates back
almost 150 years.
The word Zenith fi rst appeared in 1897
on the movement of certain pocket
watches, before becoming a permanent
feature in 1911. The word refers to the high-
est point in the celestial sphere and it is this
level of excellence that artisan watchmak-
ers have always pursued. But Zenith also
represents the advent of the craft industry.
Infl uenced by American methods, Georges
Favre-Jacot continuously expanded his
site’s infrastructure, buying or perfecting
new machines and manufacturing techniques
and constantly improving the quality and
precision of his timepieces. He developed
designs for interchangeable parts and an
automated manufacturing process to support
the careful craftsmanship that went into
creating and finishing each watch. Still
today, the Manufacture is in a constant state
of renewal as the site is currently under
renovation. The pioneering spirit infused
by Zenith’s founder has placed the brand
among the world’s top three watch manu-
facturers, a ranking held since the begin-
ning of the 20th century. Zenith’s history is
the cornerstone of modern watchmaking,
and the brand’s craftsmen are its keepers.
Since 1865, Zenith has fi led more than
300 patents, and each discovery has led to
major advances in time-keeping, from
pocket watches to bracelet watches and
navigation instruments. Its archives abound
with more than 600 types of movement, a
testament to the brand’s expertise. But it is
in chronometry that Zenith is most illustri-
ous, with 2,333 chronometry awards to its
name. El Primero is the most legendary
chronograph of all time, the result of this
unwavering desire to be the leader in preci-
sion combined with the Manufacture’s
tradition of innovation. Today, El Primero
takes its place in a comprehensive collection
that bears its name.
This fine achievement comes after
almost a century and a half of watchmaking
expertise under the aegis of the Zenith Star.