Join Zenith as it celebrates the El Primero’s 50th anniversary.

From August 28 to September 1, luxury watchmaker Zenith will present ‘A Star Through Time’, a worldwide exhibition making its first stop in Singapore. Visitors will also have the opportunity to experience ‘Le Monde Étoilé de Zenith’, an immersive interactive journey into the past, present and future of the Zenith manufacture, where the El Primero—Zenith’s legendary movement—is made.

El Primero (circa 1969)- the first high-frequency automatic chronograph oscillating at 36,000vph

Held at the expansive Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza, the exhibition will be contained in a large marquee designed to look like the Zenith manufacture in Le Locle, transporting visitors to the Jura Valley in Switzerland. A 360-degree experience will allow guests an engaging encounter with everything that goes on in a manufacture. Exhibition highlights include a Manufacture Calibre 5011 (below left), which won the all-time record for precision in its category, as well as the Manufacture Calibre 135 (below right), which won 235 chronometry prizes in 1950. These calibres were not just used in competition timepieces but were actually used in watches that clients could purchase for themselves.

To celebrate the El Primero’s 50th anniversary, the story of the movement’s birth will be told, along with how watchmaker Charles Vermot preserved the necessary tools during the quartz crisis to manufacture the El Primero in a secret attic (more here), recreated in 3D for the exhibition.

EXCLUSIVELY FOR CROWN READERS! Register with us for an intimate hands-on watchmaking clinic on September 1 at 10.30am, held at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza. Places are limited so email us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by August 23. Seats are on a first come first served basis.

A Star Through Time will be held from August 28 to September 1 at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza. Admission is free.