charles vermot – WatchesAndMoreCO

📅 Thursday, September 3, 2026

During the Quartz Crisis, mechanical watchmaking suddenly looked like yesterday’s technology. In 1975, Zenith’s management decided to cease production of the celebrated El Primero automatic chronograph movement. Charles Vermot, a veteran watchmaker who had worked on the El Primero, believed abandoning it was a terrible mistake—and even wrote to management arguing that mechanical chronographs would someday return to favor. His appeal went unanswered. Zenith Watches

So Vermot did something extraordinary: he disobeyed the order.

Working secretly—and with help from his brother Maurice—Vermot began preserving the specialized equipment required to manufacture the El Primero. Zenith’s own historical account says he saved roughly 150 presses, weighing more than a ton, along with cams, cutting tools, technical drawings, manufacturing plans and other equipment. He carefully catalogued what he saved and moved it, often at night, up 52 steps into a secluded attic area of Zenith’s sprawling manufacture in Le Locle. Zenith Watches

Then came the final touch worthy of a spy movie: the hiding place was walled off. Behind that wall sat the industrial DNA required to manufacture one of watchmaking’s most important chronograph movements. Had those specialized presses and plans disappeared, recreating the El Primero production system would have required enormous investment—and its revival might never have happened. ZENITH Watches

And the movement Vermot was protecting really was special. Introduced in 1969, the El Primero was an integrated automatic chronograph operating at an unusually high 36,000 vibrations per hour, or 5 Hz, allowing its chronograph mechanism to measure elapsed time to one-tenth of a second. It had been one of the landmark movements in the race to develop the automatic chronograph—and only six years later, its production was being abandoned. Zenith Watches

Vermot’s gamble eventually paid off. Zenith returned to Swiss ownership in 1978, and demand for prestigious mechanical chronographs began recovering during the following years. Ebel became an important early customer for existing El Primero movements, and Zenith ultimately restarted El Primero production in 1984 using the manufacturing knowledge and equipment Vermot had preserved. Later, the movement would gain another extraordinary chapter when a modified El Primero became the basis of the automatic Rolex Daytona beginning in 1988. Zenith Watches

The wonderful part of the story is that Vermot wasn’t preserving a museum exhibit. He preserved an entire manufacturing capability—the plans, tooling and knowledge necessary to make the movement again. Zenith today calls him the “saviour” of the El Primero, and the manufacture still celebrates the secret attic where he hid everything.

💡 Did You Know?

When Charles Vermot secretly saved the El Primero, he wasn’t simply hiding a few blueprints in a desk drawer. He preserved roughly 150 presses, along with specialized cams, cutting tools, technical drawings and manufacturing plans—equipment weighing more than a ton—and helped move it up 52 steps into a hidden section of Zenith’s attic. By carefully cataloguing what he saved, Vermot preserved not just the design of the El Primero, but much of the industrial know-how needed to manufacture it again. When mechanical chronographs returned to favor, Zenith could revive production rather than reconstruct the movement’s manufacturing process from scratch.

One man didn’t just save a movement—he saved the ability to make it. ⌚⚙️🔥

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Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to keep these watch facts accurate, but the world of horology is full of myths, disputed stories, and fascinating trivia. Consider these facts a starting point for discovery rather than the final word. If you have corrections or additional insights, let us know—we’re always happy to keep the record ticking in the right direction.

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