Pursuing the careful philological care with which it continues to reintroduce specimens that refer directly to the past, Zenith has launched a new chronograph with a vintage aura, but a child of the modern era. The new version of the El Primero full calendar starts from the original design and proportions of the case of the iconic A386 from 1969: 38 mm in diameter, in steel, without a bezel, with pump pushers and domed crystal.
The dial of the Chronomaster Original Triple Calendar synthesises the characteristics of the Chronomaster Original and those of a small series of prototypes with a complete calendar from the '69/'70s. A series that did not go into production, given the success of the chronograph-only variant at the time. Zenith decided to postpone the launch of a version with these functions, which only came on the market for the first time in the 1970s in the Espada.
The style of those 25 prototypes lives on in the model with a slate grey soleil background with white counters. By contrast, the panda version with black counters on a silver-plated background reflects a more sporty design. Reproducing, in both cases, the metallic blue soleil disc on which the rose gold moon stands out.
An olive green boutique edition variant with silver-plated counters is also available. The positioning of the subsidiary registers and calendar functions echoes the original, with continuous seconds at 9 o'clock, 30 minutes at 3 o'clock, and 12-hour chrono (with moon phase) at 6 o'clock. Day and month are positioned at 10 and 2 respectively, and the trapezoidal date between 4 and 5.
The movement is a new concept: the El Primero calibre 3610, a column-wheel chronograph that guarantees an accurate 1/10th of a second reading (when activated, the central chronograph seconds hand makes one revolution every ten seconds, thanks to the 5 Hz frequency of the movement).
Even with the integration of the full calendar module, the power reserve is around 60 hours. The sapphire glass back fully displays the contemporary decoration of the movement, with its star-shaped rotor and blued column wheel. It is available with a three-link steel bracelet (€14,500) or with a rubber strap (€14,000).
