zelin0802 / June 20, 2022

Your own cheap Zenith El Primero museum – with room to grow.

1969 was largely a watershed year in watchmaking. The year marked the beginning of what was almost over – the first commercial quartz watch, the Seiko Astron, debuted in Tokyo on Christmas Day. As it happens, something else debuted that year, and its fortunes would be profoundly affected by that launch. Zenith El Primero is the world’s first full-rotor automatic high-frequency chronograph, and one of three self-winding chronograph movements launched that year, along with Seiko’s own 6139 movement, and Breitling/ Tag Heuer/Bren Collaboration, calibre 11. Of the three movements, only one is still in production, and it’s still in production after 50 years, Zenith celebrates its debut with a 50th Anniversary Collection, which includes three different El Primero timepieces , these timepieces were particularly important in the development of the movement – and a few extras.

El Primero’s history is a bit peculiar in the 1970s—in 1971, the Zenith cheap Watch Company was sold to the Chicago Zenith Radio Company, which decided the future was quartz (a not unreasonable assumption at the time). Zenith Chicago decided in 1975 to shut down El Primero production, and all the tools, components, and pretty much everything else in the building should be sold or thrown away. The rest is history, and watchmaking legends – builder Charles Vermot, a Zenith employee who had the vision (or stubbornness, or both) to fight the boss and put El Primero’s Tools and plans are hidden in the factory attic. Gradually, people became interested in it – first from Ebel and then, most crucially, from Rolex,

In the intervening decades, El Primero made its way into more and more Zenith watches, and at the same time, it underwent a technological evolution. Two of the most important advancements increased the resolution of the chronograph. The 36,000 vph chronograph was a major technical achievement in 1969, and in 2010 the El Primero Striking 10th took the next step. While the Striking 10th has the same frequency as the original El Primero, it has a new chronograph gear train that supports a central hand that rotates every 10 seconds, a 30-minute counter and a 60-second counter at 6 o’clock Three o’clock – allows direct reading of 1/10 second intervals. In 2017, the cheap Zenith Defy 21 was introduced with two independent balance wheels, one vibrating at 36,000 vph and the other 360,000 vph, allowing it to be timed with a resolution of 1/100th of a second. Original El Primero reference. The 1969 A386 has been fully reproduced in the 50th anniversary series trilogy, while the Striking 10th appears in Chronomaster 2 El Primero, and the Zenith El Primero Defy 21 is even more perfect.

The set comes in a display box and, interestingly, there’s a place for an extra watch. In addition to the original, El Primero already exists in 1/10th and 1/100th versions, with empty slots marked “1/1000th of a second” – the idea is for the future, when the 1/1000th of a second El Primero production model becomes In reality, those who own the 50th anniversary set will have the option to buy it and complete the collection. (There is no possibility that there will be a mechanical chronograph with 1/10,000th of a second).

The A386 version is an extremely faithful reproduction of the 1969 original. According to Zenith, they actually even laser scanned the original model to ensure the reissue was as high-fidelity as possible. One major difference between the replica and the original is the use of a sapphire crystal on the new model (the caseback is also sapphire, while the original A386 had a solid caseback). The movement is the latest production version of the original calibre 3019 PHC, the calibre El Primero 400 – for all the relatively subtle modern updates and technical improvements, it’s still an A386 for anyone looking for the best of both retro and A modern classic El Primero design that will please a lot, including the 38mm case diameter.

Powered by Caliber 3600, the Chronomaster 21 El Primero is very different in style from the original Striking Tenths watch (reviewed by HODINKEE founder Ben Clymer when it was officially unveiled in July 2011). The most notable update is the addition of a ceramic bezel, which makes it easier to read elapsed time from 1/10 of the central seconds hand (as well as providing an additional measure of scratch resistance). It’s still fairly classic and has a fairly strong visual connection to the A386, albeit with a slightly larger 42mm case, thanks to the iconic tri-colour overlapping sub-dials. review4uwatch.com

Defy El Primero 21 is stylistically the most significantly different member of the series from the original. The open dial is controversial among El Primero retro fans, but this model does retain the original tri-color sub-dial. If you have any doubts about the version of El Primero you’re looking at, when you start the chronograph, they disappear instantly – the second hand makes one revolution per second, which is a breathtaking thing. It’s the largest of the three at 44mm in diameter, but the titanium case makes things lighter on the wrist, and as a technological powerhouse, it’s the undisputed front runner of the collection.

This includes, I should mention, a few things other than the collection itself – a visit to the Zenith Manufacture to see the El Primero movements and watches being made. The set includes a mold for the El Primero 400 chronograph coupling wheels, if you are one of the owners, you can use your mold to make a pair of these wheels when you are at the factory; your name will be Engraved in it, and part of the exhibition at the entrance to the attic, Charles Vermot hides El Primero from decades ago.

Of course, this set seems to be aimed squarely at relatively wealthy El Primero enthusiasts, but in its own right it is also an interesting museum showing the evolution of high-frequency chronographs in general, and the El Primero in particular. Adding to the customer experience when buying a special or limited edition is something we’re likely to see more of as high-end watch brands seek to further differentiate themselves from one another. All manifestations of the El Primero are unique in the history of watchmaking – if you are a cheap men watch nut with a card, you should probably experience it for yourself and appreciate its unique place in the history of watchmaking, not to mention it Miraculously survived the singularity of the Quartz Crisis.