It was only as recently as the 1960s that there was a push to invent an automatic chronograph and while Zenith can be considered the first, it wasn’t quite that straight forward. I’ve previously mentioned before that chronographs have been around since the 19 th century, but it wasn’t that long ago that automatic chronographs were introduced. The dial is filled with complications and offers a filling experience when one tends to look at it.A few weeks ago, Zenith introduced one of their latest re-edition timepieces and luckily for us, we were able to get our hands on an example to get up close and personal to see if this recreated El Primero was all we expected it to be? As you know, the Zenith El Primero is quite simply one of the most important chronographs in watchmaking history. The Zenith Chronomaster collection takes its cues from the modern timekeepers currently available in the market. On the other hand, the Chronomaster Revival series pays homage to the original timepieces created under the ‘El Primero’ era. Whereas, the openwork dial offers an insight into the ‘El Primero’ in the El Primero Open series. The addition of tachymeter in the Chronomaster Sport series provides the collection with a sportier look. The Chronographs are fitted at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock markers and are controlled by two push buttons which are placed over and below the crown. The Zenith Chronomaster collection is fitted with features such as Date, Open Heart, Small Seconds, Tachymeter, and 1/10th seconds Chronograph. The series employed under this collection are Sport, Original, Revival, and El Primero Open. The identity of a timepiece from the Zenith Chronomaster is a set of chronographs stamped on the dial. The famed movement, El Primero was fitted inside this collection and to this day houses inside the Chronomaster’s case. Taking its influences from the 60s and 70s, the Chronomaster collection bifurcates the art of watchmaking with simplicity. This marked the unprecedented growth of the Chronomaster collection and the El Primero with timepieces such as Chronomaster Open, Chronomaster Sport, and Chronomaster Revival. First launched in 1994, the Chronomaster collection was the first one to display the El Primero movement with a sapphire crystal case back. The story of the Zenith Chronomaster collection is very well imbibed with the El Primero.

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