Zenith - BEST BUDDIES INTERNATIONAL
FOR ITS SECOND SPONSORSHIP OF A BEST BUDDIES CHALLENGE, ZENITH ENJOYS ITS FIRST PARTICIPATION IN THE NINTH EDITION OF THE HEARST CASTLE EVENT
ZENITH JOINS THE CHALLENGE TO CHANGE LIVES
A n historical Swiss “Manufacture” with almost a century and a half of watchmaking history, Zenith is famed as the inventor of the legendary El Primero movement, and continues to cultivate its enduring values including innovative daring, pleasure and authenticity. It has shown a consistent interest in noble causes dedicated to the advancement of humankind, including through supporting research, exploration as well as sporting accomplishments and scientific progress. This ongoing commitment has naturally led it to serve as official timekeeper for the philanthropic organization Best Buddies International, and to play an active role in the latter’s 9th Annual Best Buddies Challenge: Hearst Castle.
Best Buddies International, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating opportunities for friendship, employment and leadership training for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), will be holding the 9th Best Buddies Challenge: Hearst Castle, on September 7 and 8, 2012. More than 1,500 people are expected to participate in the Challenge – a charity walk, run and ride to benefit Best Buddies International. Maria Shriver, Anthony Shriver’s sister, who serves as honorary chair of the event, is a journalist and published author who is also the former first lady of California – a state where she launched the WE Include Initiative dedicated to promoting employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
AN ACTION-PACKED PROGRAM
The Challenge will kick off with the “Entertainment Tonight” Best Buddies Golf Challenge, presented by Zenith Watches, at the legendary Tehama Golf Club in Carmel on Friday, September 7. During the Golf Challenge, Best Buddies participants will tee off alongside celebrities, professional athletes and special guests. The private course is nestled between Carmel Valley and Monterey Bay, presenting the perfect combination of awe-inspiring beauty, rugged elegance, and of course, exceptional golf. Golfers of all levels will appreciate the vistas of the Monterey Bay and the mountains surrounding the adjacent Carmel Valley. Amongst trees of grandeur and some of the best manicured greens in golf, guests will experience a challenging layout like no other. The day will conclude with an evening VIP reception hosted by Maria Shriver. After a full day on the course, and while the sun is setting on the Bay, participants, VIPs, sponsors and supporters will be invited to the Tehama Clubhouse to enjoy the finest California culinary creations and wines. The reception will conclude with music and a small program designed to celebrate the key supporters and Best Buddies program participants. On Saturday, September 8, hundreds of cyclists will take to the starting line at Quail Lodge Golf Club for the majestic 100-mile ride down the Pacific Coast Highway from Carmel to San Simeon. The Challenge, which is open to people of all ages and abilities and is designed to showcase the Best Buddies mission in action, also features alternative 62, 30 and 15-mile cycling routes, as well as the Carl Lewis Challenge, a 5K run/walk led by the Olympic gold-medalist himself.
The Challenge will be capped off by a barbeque and private concert by Blues Traveler at Hearst Ranch, which all participants and special guests are invited to attend. Several other celebrities, professional athletes and special guests are also expected to participate in the Challenge, including actors Michael Chiklis, Rob Lowe, Clint Eastwood and Verne Troyer; actress Lauren Potter; and “Entertainment Tonight” host Nancy O’Dell — all of whom will be encouraged to team up with Best Buddies participants and compete in “Friendship Races” on tandem bicycles.
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EL PRIMERO CHRONOMASTER POWER RESERVE
Zenith made its mark on watchmaking history by presenting the first integrated automatic chronograph movement in 1969. The world’s most accurate mechanical series-made calibre, beating at a frequency of 10 vibrations per second and thus capable of measuring 1/10ths of a second, gave rise to the legendary El Primero chronograph. Like all El Primero movements, it beats at the exceptional frequency of 10 vibrations per second (or 36,000 vibrations per hour) and can thereby measure 1/10ths of a second. This new chronograph movement with an approximately 50-hour power reserve comprises 248 parts and features meticulous finishes, visible in particular through the famous dial opening – revealing the beating heart of an exceptional movement and representing another characteristic Zenith innovation.
ABOUT BEST BUDDIES INTERNATIONAL
Best Buddies® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, Best Buddies is a vibrant organization that has grown from one original chapter to almost 1,500 middle school, high school, and college chapters worldwide. Today, Best Buddies’ eight formal programs – Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges, Citizens, e-Buddies®, Jobs, Ambassadors and Promoters – engage participants in each of the 50 states and in 50 countries, positively impacting the lives of nearly 700,000 people with and without disabilities around the world. As a result of their involvement with Best Buddies, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities secure rewarding jobs, live on their own, become inspirational leaders, and make lifelong friendships. For more information, please visit facebook.com/ bestbuddies or twitter.com/bestbuddies.
ABOUT MARIA SHRIVER
Maria Shriver is a mother of four, a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer, a six-time New York Times best-selling author, and an influential voice on the shifting roles, emerging power and evolving needs of women in modern life. Shriver was California’s trailblazing First Lady from 2003 to 2010. Her work is driven by her belief that all of us have the ability to be what she calls Architects of Change - people who see a problem in their own life or the community around them, then step out of their comfort zone and do what it takes to create the solution. Following in the footsteps of her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Maria has also been a lifelong advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. She is an active member of the International Board of Special Olympics, the organization her mother founded in 968. She is also on the advisory board of Best Buddies, a one-to-one friendship and jobs program for people with intellectual disabilities founded by her brother, Anthony K. Shriver.
ABOUT ANTHONY KENNEDY SHRIVER
Anthony K. Shriver is the Founder and Chairman of Best Buddies International, which he created in 1989 to foster one-to-one friendships between people with and without intellectual disabilities. Recognizing the tremendous volunteer potential of university students, Shriver first inspired his college peers to personally collaborate in expanding the realm of opportunities that persons with intellectual disabilities should experience. Today, through Shriver’s stewardship and entrepreneurial spirit, Best Buddies® has grown into a leading nonprofit entity with increasing international reach across six continents. A graduate of Georgetown University, Shriver has been recognized for his work on behalf of Best Buddies with diverse international accolades and honorary degrees. He resides in Miami Beach, together with his wife Alina and their five children.
ABOUT ZENITH
The creation of Zenith stems from a revolutionary approach to watchmaking. In 1865, Georges Favre-Jacot was just 22 years’ old, but gifted with a fabulous grasp of the watchmaking trade, since he had been training apprentices even before coming of age. By uniting under a single roof in Le Locle, a town in the Swiss Jura, the entire range of artisans capable of creating a timepiece from start to finish, he actually invented the very idea of a watch “Manufacture” which later adopted the Zenith brand name and “guiding star” logo. Since 1865, over 300 patents registered by Zenith have laid milestones as discoveries representing major breakthroughs in the progress of time measurement – from onboard instruments to wristwatches, as well of course as pocket watches. The company archives encompass over 600 movement variations bearing testimony to its expertise. More than in any other field, Zenith has distinguished itself in the field of chronometry or timing precision, earning no less than 2,333 prizes. This fierce determination to be leader in terms of precision, together with a tradition of innovation, have made El Primero the most legendary chronograph of all time and which is now part of a complete collection bearing its name.