ZRC

ZRC was born in 1904 in Geneva on the initiative of Edmond Zuccolo and Joseph Rochet, whose initials still make up the brand's name today. Its initial business had nothing to do with diving: the company produced pocket watch chains and developed the first "griffes", small clip attachments that for the first time allowed a pocket watch to be worn on the wrist. In 1909, with the creation of the Geneva commercial register, the company was entered in it as number 52. In 1917 ZRC received the "Industrie Nouvelle" diploma for inventing the first expanding metal bracelet, an innovation that soon made it world leader in this field.

The turn towards dive watches came at the end of the 1950s. In 1958 a meeting between Navy watchmaker Yves Pastre and the company's sales director opened the door to military supply for ZRC: under the leadership of Louis Brunet the Grands Fonds® line was born, designed for the divers of the French Marine Nationale. The first Grands Fonds 300 was made around 1960; in 1964, at the Navy's request, the crown was moved from 3 to 6 o'clock and the monobloc case was reinforced with molybdenum to provide antimagnetic resistance, a technical solution designed for divers engaged in clearing explosive ordnance. Between 1960 and 1995 the Grands Fonds was officially issued to the Navy's diving school, the minesweeping groups and Commando Hubert; it was also worn by the Paris fire brigade, the French national water-skiing team and, according to several sources, the crew of Jacques Cousteau's Calypso.

After decades in which the business focused mainly on making components for third parties, the founding family returned to the forefront: in 2004 Patrick Brunet, grandson of Joseph Rochet, celebrated the brand's centenary, while from 2014-2015 his sons Georges and Charles Brunet, great-grandsons of the founder, relaunched ZRC as a brand in its own right, bringing the Grands Fonds 300 back into production and developing new collections. The link with the Marine Nationale remains part of its identity today, with special editions dedicated to divers and to the crews of the strategic submarine force (FOST).