Further to embellish it with simplicity Zenith made the use of a 50-hour power reserve mainspring. For this Zenith developed special lubricants that would hold the El Primero firmly on the wrist. Moreover, with higher speed and precision, the Zenith El Primero also exhibited great resistance to wear and tear on the escapement. These high movements were a distant dream during the 1969's and even today they are very rare to be found yet Zenith was able to achieve this feat. Thus, this is the reason for this quirky watch movement being named as a high-beat movement. While other mechanical watches beat at the rate of eight ticks per second, the Zenith El Primero makes 10 ticks per second.

It kept on making column wheel chronograph which clearly demonstrates the dedication Zenith held in manufacturing the El Primeros.Įver since its debut El Primero has been a tough competitor for other watch brands. In spite of being aware of the fact that production of column wheel was more complicated and labour-intensive as compared cam-actuated chronographs, which other brands resorted to, Zenith chose to continue on the same path. This is all because of the fact that unlike other chronometers it featured a column wheel chronograph with a tri-compax layout which was very rare to find in other watch brands. The launch of Zenith El Primero chronomaster was revolutionary in the realms of watch manufacturing. This was the initiation of a new journey for the brand as it started the development of Zenith El Primero powered references. Its reincarnation, a decade after its original launch, was enough to prove that it was the watch of the era that held the integral position in the heart of every watch lover. Following this trend and owing to its popularity, Zenith El Primero came back in production just after a couple of years. However, till 1983, Zenith continued to accept the orders by meeting the demands through old stocks. The Zenith El Primero was confined to shelves and this was the time when Zenith witnessed a steep downfall. And this happened because Zenith Radio Corporation wanted to switch its focus on the production of quartz movements. A similar fate followed the Zenith, in the year 1975 Zenith El Primero went out of production. After the debut in 1969, many of the Seiko's calibres went out of production which included calibre 6139 and Caliber 11. The year 1969 was a major turning point for many of the watch brands including Seiko. This Zenith automatic chronograph movement was unveiled in the year 1969 and its iconic high-frequency movement had the capability of beating 36,000 vibrations per hour, enabling precise time measurements which were nearly accurate to the 1/10th of a second. Much of Zenith's success came with the debut of this legendary calibre, which featured an integrated automatic column-wheel chronograph movement. No matter how many discussions might have ruled, but to ascertain the fact, Zenith was the creator of the very first Swiss-made, fully integrated automatic chronograph - the Zenith El Primero. There have been a lot of debates ruling over the creator of the first automatic chronograph. It was the watch brand which created the first automatic chronograph. Many top watch brands were working day and night to strike the markets with newer innovations to achieve a monopoly in the watch arena.īut the watch brand which finally struck the said achievement was -Zenith.

When the world saw the Russians and Americans compete to put their men in space, the watch industry witnessed a completely different scenario - everyone was sprinting to achieve the landmark of debuting first automatic chronograph. Zenith hit the arena of watch manufacturing in the year 1865, traversing a long haul journey of almost 150 years. Zenith- a brand with pride, style and innovation.

Chronomaster el primero open