Gallery: Inside the Zenith watch factory: the 150-year-old secrets of Swiss watchmaking
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Inside the Zenith watch factory: the 150-year-old secrets of Swiss watchmaking

Here's what it looks like to put together a classic mechanical watch at the Zenith production facility and headquarters in Le Locle, Switzerland.
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Here's what it looks like to put together a classic mechanical watch at the Zenith production facility and headquarters in Le Locle, Switzerland.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

Wristwatch components sit ready for assembly. These tiny arms and balance wheels are all manually assembled by workers, using microscopic lenses in ultra-sterile workspaces.
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Wristwatch components sit ready for assembly. These tiny arms and balance wheels are all manually assembled by workers, using microscopic lenses in ultra-sterile workspaces.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

An employee uses a loupe to inspect the mechanism of a wristwatch. The tools in the foreground are what she uses to pick up or to manipulate the almost-microscopic components.
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An employee uses a loupe to inspect the mechanism of a wristwatch. The tools in the foreground are what she uses to pick up or to manipulate the almost-microscopic components.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

An Zenith employee wears a Zenith watch while she inspects a watch movement. She also wears flexible finger coverings (pink, rubbery membranes) to avoid getting dust or oil into the mechanism.
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An Zenith employee wears a Zenith watch while she inspects a watch movement. She also wears flexible finger coverings (pink, rubbery membranes) to avoid getting dust or oil into the mechanism.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

The Zenith watch factory in Le Locle is a spartan, state-of-the art facility uses watchmaking traditions that are more than a century old.
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The Zenith watch factory in Le Locle is a spartan, state-of-the art facility uses watchmaking traditions that are more than a century old.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

Tiny platinum and gold components arrayed in racks in the factory.
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Tiny platinum and gold components arrayed in racks in the factory.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

The numerals on the dials of the Zenith Pilot Extra Special watch are lined in gold and filled with SuperLuminova, which stays illuminated for long periods of time in darkness. The hands, which will be added later, will likewise be plated with gold and painted with SuperLuminova.
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The numerals on the dials of the Zenith Pilot Extra Special watch are lined in gold and filled with SuperLuminova, which stays illuminated for long periods of time in darkness. The hands, which will be added later, will likewise be plated with gold and painted with SuperLuminova.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

Movements are bored mechanically before being finished by hand.
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Movements are bored mechanically before being finished by hand.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

An employee makes final adjustments to a Zenith El Primero wristwatch.
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An employee makes final adjustments to a Zenith El Primero wristwatch.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

These El Primero wristwatches on display at the headquarters sell for over US$4,000. Like the Pilot watches, El Primeros are a key product line for Zenith.
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These El Primero wristwatches on display at the headquarters sell for over US$4,000. Like the Pilot watches, El Primeros are a key product line for Zenith.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg

Here's what it looks like to put together a classic mechanical watch at the Zenith production facility and headquarters in Le Locle, Switzerland.
Wristwatch components sit ready for assembly. These tiny arms and balance wheels are all manually assembled by workers, using microscopic lenses in ultra-sterile workspaces.
An employee uses a loupe to inspect the mechanism of a wristwatch. The tools in the foreground are what she uses to pick up or to manipulate the almost-microscopic components.
An Zenith employee wears a Zenith watch while she inspects a watch movement. She also wears flexible finger coverings (pink, rubbery membranes) to avoid getting dust or oil into the mechanism.
The Zenith watch factory in Le Locle is a spartan, state-of-the art facility uses watchmaking traditions that are more than a century old.
Tiny platinum and gold components arrayed in racks in the factory.
The numerals on the dials of the Zenith Pilot Extra Special watch are lined in gold and filled with SuperLuminova, which stays illuminated for long periods of time in darkness. The hands, which will be added later, will likewise be plated with gold and painted with SuperLuminova.
Movements are bored mechanically before being finished by hand.
An employee makes final adjustments to a Zenith El Primero wristwatch.
These El Primero wristwatches on display at the headquarters sell for over US$4,000. Like the Pilot watches, El Primeros are a key product line for Zenith.
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Here's what it looks like to put together a classic mechanical watch at the Zenith production facility and headquarters in Le Locle, Switzerland.

Michele Limina/Bloomberg