The Stratos, Captain Chronographs and Captain Central Second are amongst the classic legacy watches now available at the Raffaele D'Amato Jewellers in Garden Route Mall, George.
Expressing his delight at having been selected by the Picot & Moss Group as their preferred retailer for the prestigious Zenith watch range, owner Michél Nunes said, "It is an absolute honour to be chosen to be the stockists of this reputable brand of watches."
TAG Heuer Brand Manager, Paul Trumpelmann of Picot & Moss who travelled to George to introduce the stock to the mall personnel said, "We have only five retailers in South Africa and Raffaele D'Amato Jewellers has been selected to be the only retailer in the Western Cape to market our Zenith brand of watches. This is largely because of the passion that they have for watches in general, and of course for the watches in our stable which include TAG Heuer, Zenith and Gucci," said Mr Trumpelmann.
An obvious advantage counting in their favour is the fact that Raffaele D'Amato Jewellers has fostered a tradition of product knowledge which stems from three generations of the D'Amato family having active careers in clock and watchmaking for decades.
Michél Nunes who was practically raised in his father Deryck's watchmaking studio, has a collection of 60 watches and is still hugely excited about the Zenith watch brand's aesthetic appeal and fine mechanisms. His grandfather Raffaele set the family on their legendary path of clock and watch making and manufacturing.
Swiss perfection
Zenith was founded in 1865 in Switzerland, in the city of Le Locle by George Favre-Jacot who, in 1897, produced the first movements in certain pocket watches. It is astonishing to note that with today's mass manufacturing the company has a small dedicated team of watchmakers who painstakingly craft the miniscule parts, with each watch taking 9 months to complete. Over the years Zenith has won more than 3 200 watchmaking pri-zes, their claim to fame being the El Primero
movement launched in 1969. Each watch goes through 296 expert hands.
Free fall sensation
In the ultimate skydive test, Austrian Felix Baumgartner, wearing the all-new Zenith El Primero Stratos Flyback Striking 10th chronograph (watch), recently took the plunge by jumping out of a capsule suspended from a balloon in the stratosphere at an altitude of over 36,5 kilometres, nearly four times higher than passenger planes typically fly. In this mission to the very edge of space, labelled Red Bull Stratos, the project transcended human limits that have existed for more than 50 years and smashed four world records.
Earlier on this year in March, Felix passed initial tests done in preparation for this landmark event and he executed a balloon jump from an altitude 21,828 metres, making him only the third person in history to successfully complete a free-fall from such an altitude. A second and last test took place on 14 October this year when Baumgartner took off for the ultimate challenge in the the highest manned balloon flight - the highest freefall; the longest free-fall time and for the first time in history, breaking the sound barrier with the human body. Needless to say that the Zenith Primero Stratos Flyback Striking watch that he wore was put to the ultimate test and passed with flying colours.
The D'Amato family is pleased to be exclusive stockists of the illustrious Zenith brand. For more information contact Michél Nunes at 044 873 3130 or 044 887 0055 and to view the stock visit the Raffaele D'Amato Jewellers in the Garden Route Mall.
The Raffaele D'Amato Jewellers personnel seen at the launch of the Zenith watch range which is now being stocked at their Garden Route Mall shop - with owner Michél Nunes and TAG Heuer Brand Manager, Paul Trumpelmann. With them are the staff from left back - Natasha de Wet, (Picot & Moss), Rudi van Jaarsveldt (D'Amato). Front - Paul Trumpelmann, (Picot & Moss) Volente Cunningham (Manager D'Amato), Anne-Mare Phokaners, Lynn Petersen, Marlene Nunes, and Michél Nunes (D'Amato). Photo: Pauline Lourens
