Baselworld 2019: Meet the three 50th anniversary models of the Zenith El Primero chronograph

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Baselworld 2019: Meet the three 50th anniversary models of the Zenith El Primero chronograph

The express edition El Primero Revival A386s are cased in gold and come with an incredible 50-twelvemonth guarantee.

24 Mar 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 03:58PM)

Sometimes you only got to give collectors what they want. Zenith knows this all besides well. While its Baselworld 2022 lineup is studded with boundary-pushing technical exemplars similar the Defy Inventor and the Defy El Primero 21, it fabricated sure to include not one, but three anniversary models of the El Primero, the era-defining chronograph that put the watchmaker on the horological map in 1969.

Yep, the El Primero turns one-half a century one-time this year. Fittingly, the ceremony trio, chosen the El Primero Revival A386, is cloaked in resplendent gold casings – white, rose and yellow. Other than the new precious metal guises (El Primeros are typically cased in steel or loftier-tech materials), the watches remain faithful to the original.

Features such as the 38mm case bore, the domed crystal, the tri-coloured counters, the tachymeter scale, the hands and markers, the pushers and the lugs – all recreate what was institute on the OG.

Of course, some updates needed to be installed. The movement is the electric current generation El Primero 400, which was introduced a decade ago. Witness the workings of this loftier-beat (5Hz) engine through the open up case dorsum – another feature not institute on the original.

If you compare the El Primero Revival A386 with the 45th anniversary version, the El Primero Original 1969 (released in 2014), you'll discover subtle differences.

The latter was housed in a stainless steel case; its 12-hour chronograph counter overlapped the other ii counters (it's the reverse on the A386); and its chronograph seconds manus sported the Zenith star motif on the counterweight (this is absent on the A386).

Naturally, each of the A386 models come in a limited edition – 50 pieces only. Only get this: They also come with an incredible fifty-year guarantee. Does that brand them eminently suitable as heirloom pieces? We remember so.

Baselworld 2019: Meet the three 50th anniversary models of the Zenith El Primero chronograph

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