Zenith and J.N. Shapiro Double-Sign the G.F.J. Calibre 135

On November 12, 2026, from Le Locle and Los Angeles, Zenith unveiled the second chapter of its Double Signed program. After an inaugural, ten-piece platinum edition with Tokyo’s Naoya Hida & Co., the Manufacture has partnered with American independent watchmaker J.N. Shapiro on the Zenith G.F.J. Calibre 135 Double Signed with J.N. Shapiro: a 25-piece rose gold watch whose silver dial is hand-guilloché in Shapiro’s California atelier, and whose movement bridges carry his signature damaskeening.

The G.F.J., named for Zenith founder Georges Favre-Jacot, was conceived as a contemporary home for the Calibre 135, the movement Zenith calls the most awarded observatory chronometer in watchmaking history. The Manufacture has already recast that historic hand-wound chronometer for modern use, with a 2.5 Hz beat, a 72-hour power reserve, a stop-seconds function, and official COSC certification. The Double Signed editions keep that architecture and invite an independent maker to change the way the watch looks and feels.

Joshua Shapiro founded J.N. Shapiro Watches in his home workshop in 2018, beginning with guilloché dials and later introducing a proprietary Caliber 26 and the fully in-house Resurgence. That path, from decorative engine turning to a finished California-made watch, is why this collaboration reads as more than two names on a dial.

Shapiro is already part of a larger conversation about craft. In a recent essay on what “in-house” means today, we noted young makers like J.N. Shapiro who are trying to master the whole process in a lean workshop. He also belongs among the independent watch brands collectors now follow as closely as the historic Maisons.

The new watch is built around a 39mm case in 18k rose gold, water-resistant to 5 ATM, with a sapphire caseback. The silver dial is made entirely in Shapiro’s atelier, with three guilloché patterns cut by hand on rose-engine and straight-line machines: barleycorn on the outer ring, basketweave in the center, and Shapiro’s signature Infinity Weave on the small-seconds subdial. Applied 18k rose gold rings, hour markers, and plates frame those textures, including the double signature “ZENITH | J.N. Shapiro” and the G.F.J. initials.

Where the first Double Signed edition concentrated Hida’s work on the dial and hands, this one goes a step further. Through the caseback, the bridges of the Calibre 135 are finished in damaskeening, a decorative language that combines elements of Côtes de Genève and guilloché and was often seen on historic American pocket watches. It is, as Zenith puts it, a distinctly American expression on a Swiss movement.

The movement itself remains the re-engineered Calibre 135: manually wound, 157 components, 18,000 vibrations per hour, and a 72-hour reserve. It uses a large variable-inertia balance with a Breguet overcoil, Charles Fleck’s double arrow-shaped regulator, and a balance staff protected by spring-mounted jewel settings. Zenith regulates it to ±2 seconds per day and certifies that precision at COSC. It is still a chronometer first, and a decorative experiment second, which is the right order.

“This type of collaboration of a Swiss brand working with an American brand has never happened before,” says Joshua Shapiro, founder and CEO of J.N. Shapiro. “The Calibre 135 is one of the holy grails of watchmaking. To get to beautify such a functionally historic calibre has been really exciting. We are making watches at the highest level possible. Working with ZENITH on this project is a recognition of the watchmaking we are building and preserving here in California.”

The watch is delivered with three straps—brown Cordovan leather, beige nubuck alligator, and black calf—and an 18k rose gold pin buckle engraved with the G.F.J. initials. An 18k rose gold bracelet is available on request. On Zenith’s U.S. boutique, it is priced at $83,150. After a first Double Signed chapter that looked east to Tokyo, this one looks west, and it gives the Calibre 135 a distinctly American surface without asking the movement to become something it is not.

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Adrienne Faurote

Editor in Chief · Haute Time

As a former New Yorker, now a “Miamian,” Adrienne Faurote joined Haute Living in August of 2021. She currently serves as the Haute Media Group Editor-in-Chief, overseeing all editorial platforms within the Haute Media Group while also maintaining her role as Fashion, Jewelry & Watch Director. Prior to her position at Haute Living, Faurote was the Market Editor at Marie Claire Magazine US, amassing over ten years in the industry, becoming an authoritative voice in all things fashion, jewelry, and watches.