FOR ALL TO SEE

Zenith showcases multiple complications with the help of a brilliant movement laid bare in the Chronomaster El Primero Grande Date Full Open.

With its generous 45mm case topped by domed glass with sapphire crystal back, the entire movement in the Chronomaster El Primero Grande Date Full Open is on show. The 332 components in the Zenith movement have been carefully put together to create a stunning 3D artwork bringing the complications to life. A Moon and Sun phase appear at 6 with two discs, the former completing its rotation in 59 days and the latter in 24 hours. A large date at 2 displays the days. The sapphire dial also features two blue and grey-tinted transparent counters, one for the small seconds and one for the chronograph’s 30 minute counter.

The watch is fuelled by a high-frequency 5Hz El Primero calibre. Its precision provides short time accuracy to one tenth of a second. A 30 minute counter at 3 and a central chronograph hand make it easy to keep track of time whilst pushers make handling the chronograph classic. The self-winding chronograph joins forces with the best of traditional watchmaking: a modern column wheel and a silicone escapement. Despite its many complications, the movement still gives the Chronomaster El Primero Grande Date Full Open a 50 hour power reserve.

Specific colour codes make it easy to read the dial. The silver chapter ring is rimmed by a blue ring. The facetted SuperLuminova-coated hands track the black and white minute track and luminescent markers. A slim red-tipped central seconds hand bears Zenith’s signature star and glides over the majestic piece.

Price: 10,600 € (steel) – 12,200 € (steel and rose gold) zenith.com

By Dan Diaconu

A CONCENTRATION OF TECHNOLOGY

With its new chronograph, Zenith has made the only standard watch on the market with precision to 1/100^th of a second.

To stay at the timekeeping summit, Zenith has redefined its precision level with a high-tech, high-frequency calibre running at 50Hz. Nothing less was expected from the watchmakers with 2,333 timekeeping records! The result? The Defy El Primero 21 Titanium chronograph measures time to 1/100^th of a second. To achieve this result, the watchmaker has developed a completely new calibre equipped with a double-chain architecture featuring two carbon-alloy regulators. One escapement running at 36,000 vibrations an hour is used to drive the watch. A second controls the heartbeat of the chronograph at… 360,000 vibrations an hour. A spiral made from carbon nanotubes guarantees that the mechanism is unaffected by magnetic fields.

The design on the 44mm-wide titanium case is inspired by the El Primero models from the 1970s. While the skeleton dial provides a contemporary face, the presence of the starred second hand, and the blue and anthracite grey counters mean that the Defy El Primero 21 Titanium is a worthy descendant of the mythical chronograph from 1969.

Price: 10,900 CHF zenith.com

By Dan Diaconu

COLOUR IS BANG ON TREND

Zenith specialises in vintage-style pilot timepieces and has unveiled a range of watches with colourful straps and dials in far more “reasonable” sizes than their predecessors.

Unisex sizes and colour ranges are two major trends that rocked 2017’s BaselWorld. Zenith is nailing the trends with a smaller version of its famous pilot watch which usually comes in large sizes (e.g. the 45mm Pilot Type 20 GMT and Pilot Ton-Up, 48mm Pilot Type 20 Annual Calendar and 60mm Pilot Type 20 Tribute to Louis Blériot).

The new kid on the block is the Pilot Type 20 Extra Special 40mm and, as the name suggests, it has a vintage steel 40mm case. The size is ideal for both men and women and is bound to please fans of the Pilot Type 20.

The Pilot Type 20 Extra Special 40mm is a collection in itself as it features four trend-setting models in four colours: burgundy, saffron, khaki and royal blue. They may be classics but they’re bold statements in the otherwise black and white (anything from glistening silver to ivory) world of watchmaking.

The new Zenith case houses the Elite 679 calibre. The self-winding mechanical movement made in the brand’s Le Locle workshops fuels the “simple” functions (hours, minutes and seconds in the centre of the dial) and a power reserve that lasts over 50 hours.

Three of the grained dials on the Pilot Type 20 Extra Special 40mm quartet match their nubuck straps whilst the saffron model has a slate grey dial. Otherwise, the timepiece is true to its pilot watch roots (e.g. the fluted ball crown at 3 on the case side): large Arabic numerals coated in beige Super-LumiNova and “cathedral” hands with a sandy luminescent coating.

Price: 5,900 CHF zenith.com

By Sharmila Bertin

THE STAR FROM LE LOCLE AND THE BRITISH LION

At the 87^th Geneva Motor Show, Zenith unveiled a watch designed in partnership with Range Rover, the British carmaker, to celebrate the release of a new SUV

On 8 March, on the eve of the official opening of the GIMS, the Geneva International Motor Show, Zenith presented a new timepiece at a press conference on the Range Rover stand. A project announced jointly by a Swiss watchmaker and a British carmaker may sound surprising on paper, but is actually not at all. The two brands are both pioneers in their domains, and have joined together to unveil a sport utility vehicle with prestigious features, the SUV Velar, and a watch associated with the new car, the Chronomaster El Primero Range Rover Velar Special Edition.

The dial on the El Primero Range Rover Velar Special Edition is anthracite grey in colour and features a vertical brushed finish to attract the light. It is set in a black chapter ring, including a tachymeter scale inscribed in silver grey. All the indicators are coated with copper reflections: the minute track running along the tachymeter, interspersed with faceted and luminescent hour markers, and the central hands, as well as the three counters. The hours and minutes displayed at the centre of the dial are completed by the seconds, offset at 9 o’clock, while the date is shown in white against a black background in a counter at 6 o’clock, just below the chronograph hour counter, with the seconds in the centre and the minutes at 3 o’clock.

Price: 8,900 CHF zenith.com

By Sharmila Bertin

GOLDEN BRONZE REFLECTIONS

For BaselWorld 2017, Zenith, the firm from Le Locle, has revisited the famous pilot’s watch and given it a fuselage of bronze, a metal alloy that changes attractively over time

Bronze really is the most fashionable metal in watchmaking. We can see it in the collections of several watch brands, especially over the past two years. Mainly made up of copper, but also aluminium and tin, bronze is an alloy that is resistant to rust and wear, and which takes on a fine patina over time and a grey-green colour. After a three-hander with a bronze case, the Pilot Type 20 Extra Special, Zenith has now released a chronograph version: the Pilot Extra Special Chronograph.

This Pilot Extra Special Chronograph is worn on the wrist with an oiled nubuck, khaki-green strap, similar to the one on the Pilot Ton-Up – a model released by Zenith in 2016 – and with a titanium clasp.

 Price on request. zenith.com

 By Sharmila Bertin

A TALE OF TOBACCO AND GOLD

Zenith has sealed its partnership with Cohiba with a second watch for the premium cigar brand’s 50^th anniversary.

 We introduced the limited edition El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Cohiba Edition in May 2016: 50 rose gold pieces and 50 steel watches whose dials were awash with tobacco brown and the signature Cohiba yellow, white and gold pattern to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the habanos brand. Zenith is doing it all again with just 5 of the exclusive Academy Christophe Colomb Tribute to Cohiba, again in tribute to Cohiba’s 50^th anniversary.

The dial on this new watch brings to mind textured and creased tobacco leaf. The gold disc is shot through with tiny veins which are hand-engraved and enamelled. The hours and minutes appear off-centre at 12, the small seconds at 9 and power reserve at 3. The hour rim features Roman numerals and rose gold dots beneath a pair of spear-shape rose gold-plated hands.

The bottom of the Academy Christophe Colomb Tribute to Cohiba dial is filled with a sapphire crystal ball covering a gyroscopic module that holds the regulator horizontally. It controls gravity by protecting the mechanism from earthly forces of attraction that tend to affect a watch’s function and precision.

The displays, 50-hour power reserve and additional module at 6 are fuelled by the El Primero 8804 calibre. The manual wind movement made by Zenith runs at 36,000 beats per hour (5Hz) inside the 45mm rose gold case that’s 14.35mm thick (excluding the sapphire sphere).

Price: 220,000 CHF zenith.com

By Sharmila Bertin

“WITH VALOUR TO THE STARS”*

Le Locle’s Zenith has revived a military chronograph designed in the 60s for the Italian army with a model similar to the original and limited to 1000 pieces.

The Italian army wanted to replace the TIPO CP1 that the Italian Air Force pilots wore in the late 1950s and called upon the watchmaking expertise of Zenith. Their mission was to design a reliable, accurate and easy to use watch that can withstand extreme conditions and be worn over a jumpsuit. The Le Locle brand made a 43mm military timepiece called the TIPO CP-2 with two counters fuelled by the manual-wind Zenith DP 146 calibre. Only a handful of pilots ended up wearing the 2500 pieces delivered in the 60s as most of them went into storage and were never worn.

The TIPO CP-2, nicknamed “Cairelli” after Zenith’s Roman distributor, is now highly sought-after among collectors. Given its success, the Le Locle watchmaker has relaunched production of this famous chronograph. The Heritage Cronometro TIPO CP-2’s signature style may be almost identical to the original but it’s been given modern features and a cutting-edge movement. The famous self-winding El Primero 4069 calibre in the new chronograph brings the functions and 50-hour power reserve to life.

The 43mm steel case is topped by a graduated black bezel. The black dial has large luminescent Arabic numerals tracked by two rhodium-plated phosphorescent hour and minute hands in the centre. The seconds tick by in a counter at 9, the chronograph minute counter lies at 3 and a luminescent triangle-tipped central seconds hand tracks the seconds in the middle.

Price: 7,900 CHF/EUR zenith.com

 * “Virtute Siderum Tenus“, the Italian Air Force’s motto

By Sharmila Bertin

When the star of the Zenith collections is laid bare

The Le Locle brand has reworked the El Primero Lightweight for the iconic El Primero 36.000 VpH.

Barely 2 years have passed since Zenith unveiled a watch designed using ultra-light hi-tech materials in the first half of 2014: the limited edition El Primero Lightweight (25 available). Not only is it featherweight (25% lighter than the classic model) but the watch also has a stunning black checkerboard on the ceramicised carbon and aluminium case with an openwork dial reminiscent of stylised metal lace featuring El Primero’s signature counters.

The star-logo brand has given this fabulous piece an update, in terms of design and mechanism at least. Presenting the El Primero 36.000 VpH, a characterful and relatively affordable watch with a chronograph measuring 1/10^th of a second.

The 45mm steel case houses a legendary movement that you can see through the sapphire crystal back: the self-winding El Primero 400B calibre. It fuels the power reserve that lasts over 50 hours as well as the time, chronograph and date functions.

The carefully carved dial is rimmed by a gunmetal chapter ring bearing the tachymeter scale. It features the three famous overlapping counters in different colours. The silvery small seconds lies at 9 and the petrol blue minute counter at 3 stands next to the anthracite hour counter at 6. The date display has openwork numerals on a red background at 6. Three hands appear in the centre of the contemporary metallic embroidery: luminescent rhodium-plated hours and minutes and the scarlet-coated chronograph seconds hand with an openwork star-shape counterweight.

Price: 7,100 CHF zenith.com

By Sharmila Bertin

Introducing the Zenith El Primero 36,000 VPH Classic Cars

Legendary cars, vintage leather seats, growling engines: curvaceous Classic Cars are the stuff that dreams are made of for speed freaks, vintage car enthusiasts and those who love beautiful things. Le Locle’s Zenith has joined forces with the world of stylish cars and put it in the spotlight with the El Primero 36,000 VPH Classic Cars.

The anthracite dial has the “engine” design with wide brushed horizontal stripes and the collection’s three classic colours on the counters which all have red hands: light grey for the small seconds, petrol blue for the minute counter and chronograph at 3 and dark grey for the hour counter at 9. The hours and minutes are tracked from the centre as are the chronograph seconds with a red hand topped by a luminescent rectangle.

The 42mm steel case houses the powerful self-winding El Primero 400B calibre.

Price: 6,900 CHF zenith.com

By Sharmila Bertin

Introducing the Zenith El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Cohiba Edition

The latest from the Zenith collections, El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Cohiba Edition brings two legends together: the expertise of a 101 year old watchmaker and the prestige of an iconic Cuban cigar brand. The new limited edition piece (50 in rose gold and 500 in steel) celebrates Cohiba’s 50^th anniversary.

The tobacco-coloured dial with a tachymeter scale on the chapter ring features Cohiba’s signature black, white and buttercup yellow checkerboard and the profile of the Taino Indian. A display at 11 gives you a glimpse of the El Primero Chronomaster 1969 Cohiba Edition’s movement and echoes the hour and minute counters at 3 and 6 o’clock.

Price: 19,900 CHF (rose gold)  – 9,300 CHF (steel) zenith.com

By Sharmila Bertin