Or at least a consortium of Breitling, Dubois Depraz, Heuer-Leonidas and Buren- Hamilton was, since this super-group of short time measurement specialists had also been working in secret since 1966 to produce an automatic chronograph. Certainly when Zenith’s El Primero was finally launched some eight years later, in 1969 – four years later than planned – many in the watch world were shocked. What transpired over next few years has become the stuff of myth within the watchmaking world – and was the origins of watch fans’ lasting fascination with this category of timepiece. Remember that chronographs weren’t a staple of most watchmakers’ collections until the 1950s but demand was growing and there was a realisation in the industry that an automatic version – a modern, rational version – was necessary.” “But the automatic movement had existed for a long time and it was generally felt in the industry that it was weird that nobody had added it to a chronograph. “An automatic chronograph was considered such a big challenge because, while you might be able to make one by adding a module, in a sandwich of complications, it made the watch too thick, so creating one really required a complete rethinking of the mechanism,” explains Laurence Bodenmann, Zenith’s heritage manager. There are only so many perfectly boiled eggs a man needs. Its overtones of masculinity and of action have, in 2021, long outlasted its actual day-to-day, real world functionality. With it came an aesthetic – that information-packed dial, those playful buttons – and an association – the timing of events, from artillery bombardments to motor races – that has ensured the chronograph remains, bar none, the single most popular complication in men’s watchmaking, one which has given us enduring watch icons the likes of the Rolex Daytona or Omega Speedmaster. It’s what the chronograph was invented for, when, almost a century ago, in 1923, Gaston Breitling introduced the first wristwatch chronograph with a stop/start pusher. But for decades there’s also been a parallel quest: for the ever more accurate mechanical recording of elapsed time. Doing so with growing precision is, arguably, the core tenet of the watchmaker’s micro engineering. The telling of the time is, after all, the central function of any watch. The Zenith Chronomaster Original Limited Edition For Hodinkee is priced at $9,500 and is available from the Hodinkee Shop and Zenith’s online boutique.The mechanical watch world has always striven for ever more accuracy.
For instance, the chronograph seconds hand traverses the dial once every ten seconds or six times per minute.Īlso, rather than drive the chronograph via the movement's fourth wheel, as the original calibre 400 did, the El Primero 3600 runs the chronograph directly off its high-tech silicon escape wheel.ĭo you fancy picking up the Zenith Chronomaster Original Limited Edition For Hodinkee? You'll have to act fast -Zenith is only making 300-pieces. The Caliber 3600 shares the same high-beat rate and column-wheel design that has defined the El Primero since its inception, but with modern technical enhancements that ensure smooth running and reliability. Housed inside the 38mm case, and entirely visible through the sapphire case back, sits the Zenith El Primero Automatic Caliber 3600 movement. The case is met by a tapered bracelet with polished centre links, outer links with polished edges, and a folding clasp to ensure the look - and feel - of a modern high-performance sports watch. The dial is flanked by familiar pump-style pushers and brushed lugs. The signature 4:30 date window is almost hidden thanks to a matching salmon date wheel that blends in with the colour of the dial.īeyond the new colourway, the watch’s case and dial are enclosed with a raised sapphire crystal, calling to mind the acrylic lenses found on vintage Zenith chronographs. With the strong salmon base tone, the chronograph reinterprets Zenith’s emblematic tricolour registers in three shades of grey. On the wrist, the dial can move quite seamlessly between bright and sunny and formal and moody. This is anything but simple - the colour has depth and a bit of flash that holds up against the muted silver and grey hues elsewhere. The timepiece is outfitted with a matte salmon opaline dial, providing a dynamic and warm backdrop uncommon for this dial configuration.Ĭhosen by the Hodinkee team, the salmon leans more towards an orange colourway as opposed to red, and the matte opaline finish allows that colour to shine without any unnecessary finishing. The colours are where Hodinkee pushed the boundaries while connecting the timepiece to the world of complex watchmaking. The Zenith Chronomaster Original Limited Edition For Hodinkee uses the perfectly sized 38mm x 12.6mm case of the Chronomaster Original came in.
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