technology. It will still be pretty limited – to 300 or 400 pieces. We don’ t know the price yet, but definitely less than $ 30,000. Probably more like between $ 12,000 and $ 14,000.
We will make a series in greater numbers down the road, but we have to go step by step because of the way the plate is cut. The watch’ s precision is linked to a mathematical formula, and the difficulty is to make it in larger quantities. And it still has to be hand-adjusted once it’ s finished. Eventually we will have refined it so that it doesn’ t need hand adjusting.
Does Zenith have the capacity to service a larger collection of something so new?
Yes. There are very few components – it’ s a single-component oscillator – that is the beauty of the movement. So it is going to be quite simple in terms of maintenance. That’ s a distinct advantage. It resists shocks much better than the usual escapement, which is very fragile.
Will you keep using the case material Aeronith?
No. We wanted to use something special for the introduction, but we will not go into a fusion of materials on future models – this is not our brand. We will stick to steel, titanium, gold, platinum. That is Zenith.
Will there be a ladies’ version?
Yes, of course. We are starting to add a feminine to touch to ladies’ watches, and I believe this is an interesting trend. I’ m not sure today you need to make a dedicated line for women. More and more women are wearing men’ s watches, but you need to add a feminine touch. It could be a strap, it could be a diamond.
I always think of the example of when I was a kid, I remember seeing cars for men and separate cars for women. Now it doesn’ t matter any more. You have many men driving Mini Coopers and women driving huge SUVs. I think for watches we are in for that. We will soon see some Chronomaster or some other men’ s watch with a colored strap or some other feminine touch. We haven’ t done much in the ladies’ segment, yet 25 % of our business is in ladies’ watches.
Zenith Defy Lab operates at a very high 15
Hz frequency( 108,000 vibrations per hour) yet maintains a power reserve of 55 hours, about ten percent longer than the
Zenith El Primero. despite operating at three times the frequency.
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