The Zenith G.F.J. Returns In Two New Striking Limited-Editions

Last year, Zenith introduced the G.F.J., a watch named after the manufacture’s founder Georges Favre-Jacot and built to honour its sparkling legacy in observatory trials. Mechanical horology was once the be-all and end-all of timekeeping, and these competitions were how the best distinguished themselves from each other. Zenith’s 2,333 chronometry prizes are unmatched by any other manufacture. The G.F.J. sported a modern rendition of Calibre 135, a movement originally produced between 1949 and 1962, which had a competition-specific version that earned 235 accolades on its own.

The launch edition of the G.F.J. featured a platinum case, and was paired with a striking blue dial with a lapis lazuli centre and mother-of-pearl subdial. Of course, it lived up to its progenitor by being COSC-certified and with a rated accuracy of +/- 2 seconds per day. It was also awarded the Chronometry Prize at last year’s GPHG awards.

At Watches & Wonders this year, Zenith is expanding the line-up with two new executions. The first embraces a warmer outlook along with a throwback aesthetic. The 39mm case is in yellow gold, and it is paired with a rich green dial courtesy of bloodstone. The calling card of this semiprecious stone is that it is shot through with red mineral streaks, giving rise to its name, and, combined with its complex veining, ensures that no two dials will be alike. The G.F.J. with bloodstone dial is limited to 161 pieces—one for each year since the manufacture’s founding.

Introduced alongside it is something with a much more contemporary aesthetic: the G.F.J. with a tantalum case. This metal crops up in watchmaking every now and then, but not often due to the challenges it poses to the production process. It has a unique blue-grey hue, lending it a cooler, moodier tone than the usual steel or gold, and is paired with an onyx dial centre. It is completed by 11 baguette-cut diamonds that serve as the hour markers, except for the one at six o’clock, which has given way to the small seconds subdial rendered in mother-of-pearl. The G.F.J. in tantalum is limited to just 20 pieces.

Returning also on both executions are the little touches that were present on the original, such as the brick-pattern guilloche texture on the outer ring of each dial that was inspired by the façade of the Zenith manufacture building in Le Locle, which has been there since its founding in 1865. Here, one will also find the initials ‘G.F.J.’, which formed the inspiration of the signature as found on the eponymous watch.

Zenith G.F.J.