Outstanding Chronomasters from Zenith
During Watches & Wonders, Zenith unveiled its “Master of Chronographs” exhibition, which highlighted the marque’s milestones and trajectory in becoming the preeminent manufacture and innovator of automatic chronographs. With innovation as its guiding star, Zenith features exceptional in-house developed and manufactured movements in all its watches. Since the creation of the El Primero in 1969, the world’s first automatic chronograph calibre, Zenith has gone on to master fractions of the second with the Chronomaster Sport and its 1/10th of a second precision and the DEFY 21 with a precision of 1/100th of a second
Chronomaster Open
The latest Chronomaster Open retains the iconic A386’s tri-colour dial configuration, with a transparent twist. Instead of cutting out the small seconds counter at 9 o’clock, the three counter colours are retained, with a readable sub-dial in hesalite crystal allowing the silicon star-shaped escape wheel to be seen. The circular openings with chamfered edges reveal the grey-tone movement. The 39.5mm round case features slimmer lugs and pronounced bevelled edges, with the pump-style pushers featuring rounded tips. The sapphire display back shows the El Primero 3604 1/10th of a second automatic chronograph movement, a modified version of the 3600, featuring an open base plate and bridges that allow a clearer view of the high-frequency 5Hz escapement with lubricant-free silicon escape wheel and pallet lever. The automatic winding mechanism with an open star-shaped oscillating mass delivers a 60-hour power reserve. The watch is available in steel with a white or black dial, with steel or rubber straps, along with a rose gold version featuring a white dial and a rubber strap.
Chronomaster Sport
With the unveiling of the Chronomaster Sport in 2021, Zenith once again set a new standard for automatic sporty chronographs. Crowned with the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2021 “Chronograph” prize, the Chronomaster Sport is already a modern chronograph icon in the making. Now, Zenith is expanding the collection with new versions incorporating precious metals while retaining the performance-centric allure of the model. The result of over 50 years of perfecting the El Primero, the world’s first automatic high-frequency chronograph calibre, the Chronomaster Sport line is equipped with the newest version of the venerable movement, the El Primero 3600. With its high frequency of 5 Hz (36,000 VpH), the movement is able to precisely offer a 1/10th of second function that’s easily readable, displayed directly on the bezel as well as the dial. Its autonomy has also been rendered more efficient, with an extended power reserve of 60 hours. Visible through the sapphire display back, the new architecture is strikingly evident, revealing a blue column wheel and open rotor marked with the five-pointed star Zenith.
