Zenith Academy watches

The Zenith Academy is the brand's collection of more complicated watches, made in 45 mm gold, platinum and titanium cases in small limited runs. Zenith was founded in Le Locle in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot. The Christophe Colomb Hurricane and the Georges Favre-Jacot pair hand-wound, El Primero-based movements with an old regulating idea, the chain-and-fusée, and the Hurricane adds a second one: the gimbal of the marine chronometer.

The Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane (18.2212.8805/36.C713) shows both. Its Gravity Control module at 6 o'clock is a patented gyroscopic system, based on the gimbal suspension of marine chronometers, that keeps the balance and escapement horizontal however the wrist is held; Zenith itself points out that it is not a tourbillon. An 18 cm chain of 585 parts links the barrel to a fusée to deliver constant force as the mainspring runs down. The hand-wound El Primero 8805 beats at 36,000 vibrations per hour and runs for at least 50 hours. The Hurricane is a rose-gold edition of 25, and the Grand Voyage II (18.2215.8805/36.C713) a further rose-gold edition of 10.

Other Christophe Colomb editions came in runs of 10 or fewer: the blue-dialled Planète Bleue Europe / America in rose gold and Europe / Asia in platinum, a platinum Tribute to Felix Baumgartner, and rose-gold tributes to the Rolling Stones and to Cohiba, five of each, the Cohiba with a brown dial and enamel.

The Academy Georges Favre-Jacot (18.2210.4810/01.C713), named after the founder, marked Zenith's 150th anniversary and is essentially a slimmed-down Hurricane. Its hand-wound calibre 4810, a variant of the 36,000 vph El Primero chronograph movement with a silicon escape wheel, is COSC-certified and drives a 575-part chain-and-fusée visible in the upper half of an eggshell-textured dial, with blued steel hands and a power-reserve display. The rose-gold watch is limited to 150 pieces, as is a titanium edition (95.2260.4810/21.C759). The Academy Répetition Minutes, a minute repeater with a white enamel dial, is limited to 25 pieces, and the Academy Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar to 10.