Georges Favre-Jacot is primarily known as the founder of Zenith and as a pioneer in the industrialisation of Swiss watchmaking.

What mattered was not only that he designed movements, but that he transformed the way watches were manufactured:

In 1865, he brought the various trades of watchmaking together under one roof in Le Locle. Previously, movements, cases, dials and other components were often made by independent craftsmen working in different locations. The centralised factory made it possible to standardise components, control the entire production process and manufacture more precise and reliable watches on a larger scale. The factory complex grew to approximately 17,000 m² and employed around 2,000 people at its peak in the early twentieth century. A watch movement bearing the name Zenith was awarded the Grand Prix at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900. The name later became that of the entire manufacture.

He is therefore celebrated more as a visionary company founder and industrial pioneer than as a lone watchmaker who personally created specific complications. Zenith describes his enterprise as Switzerland’s first fully integrated watch manufacture.