![]() Blued screws, brushed cams, and that massive rotor are at play to direct your sight away from the other areas – but the equation adds up more to the El Primero being true to itself than it grandstanding as an exercise in fine watchmaking. The El Primero 400 is not shy about displaying rather plain looking surfaces: the large and imminently visible area behind the two chronograph runner gears, as well as the surface behind and around the balance wheel both stayed plain, with rough edges also on show. ![]() Comparing this Zenith El Primero to some other movements is like comparing a 4.0 liter flat six from a 911 to a roaring V12 from a Lamborghini: one was designed to work tirelessly, rain or shine, while the other is rather more delicate, finicky, and impresses in a more exotic way. While the El Primero looks very impressive at first, one has to bear in mind that it was designed to be a tool, a device, a workhorse movement – and upon closer inspection, that shows. Once you look behind the rotor, machine-finished parts of very high quality are revealed. Thanks to Charles Vermot, the El Primero could return. Codenamed 3019 PHC, this movement was renamed El Primero, the first in Spanish. The El Primero was the first fully integrated, high-frequency, automatic chronograph movement. The large, skeletonized automatic rotor runs on seven ball bearings, and sports a skeletonized Zenith star logo in its center, along with wide Geneva striping and some bold “Zenith El Primero Manufacture Le Locle” scripts engraved. The complete history of the Zenith El Primero, from the first references launched in 1969 (A384, A385, A386) to the AH781. Luckily, the Zenith El Primero Original 1969 comes with a sapphire crystal case-back, exposing the strikingly beautiful and indeed very technical-looking movement inside. And yet, as briefly discussed above, the complexity of this “base” movement is already truly remarkable. Over the years, Zenith has modified the El Primero in countless ways, adding complex calendars and even gimbal-suspended escapements (hands-on here) to it. Incidentally, 5 Hertz may just be the perfect frequency, as the motion of the seconds hands is remarkably smooth – but not so much to imply an electrical movement underneath, as the small jumps are still visually present. El Primero Original 1969 and Nikon D810.Ī post shared by David on at 10:29am PDTįurthermore, because the balance wheel ticks 10 times – as opposed to the much more common 8, or sometimes only 6 or 5 times, encountered in most other watches – the seconds hands advance in a visually smoother way, with an almost perfectly fluid, sweeping motion. Imagine that this happens every single minute when you're wearing the watch and you're not even aware 99% of the time. The 38 pieces will exclusively be sold through Zenith retailer timelessluxwatches.Wait for the reflection! Love the quality of execution, even at this level and when viewed so up close - macros are unkind but this is beautiful. Price for the Zenith Chronomaster El Primero 38mm Final Edition will be $8,800 on the three leather straps and $9,850 on bracelet with the three leather straps, as well. There will also be a steel bracelet option that includes those three leather straps, though I am not certain about the exact number out of 38 that will have this bracelet option. The 38mm Chronomaster Final Edition is going to come with three calf-leather straps in red, blue, and gray that match the subdial windows. 3523.80.00 that is 39mm and pretty perfect. I actually quite like sub-40mm chronographs and own an old Omega Speedmaster Reduced Ref. ![]() Of course, I’m going by memory from the last time I wore a 38mm El Primero, but I have done so on several occasions. I believe the lug-to-lug height for this soon-to-be-gone case is just around 46mm, which is more than one would guess for a 38mm, but it makes for a very wearable watch. The 38mm-wide case should be just around 12.45mm-thick and has 100M of water resistance, as is the case with previous iterations. Of course, it operates at a frequency of 36,000 vph and has a 50-hour power reserve. Zenith uses the El Primero 4061 movement here, which is the no-date model, and I think the type of enthusiasts who will pick up one of these 38 pieces likely will likely appreciate this choice.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |