Three parties started to develop their own project, each with their own merits and their own technical vision. Watchmakers embarked on a genuine race to develop the first self-winding chronograph. In the 1960s, it was time for the chronograph to modernise itself, by adding the practicality and comfort of automatic winding. For watch collectors and admirers of beautiful mechanisms, El Primero will always be The First.Chronograph wristwatches have existed since the beginning of the 20 th century (around 1912 or 1913 for the earliest examples) but all of them were fitted with hand-wound movements. The original El Primero may no longer be the most precise – that honour goes to last year’s big reveal, the Defy El Primero 21, – but its legendary status is set in stone. As well as adding functions to its star calibre, Zenith systematically incorporates the very latest technology, such as its Zenithium alloy in 2006 and silicon in 2010. Or the El Primero 4031 with its GMT, alarm, striking mechanism and large date display. Maybe the Open, introduced in 2003 and which reveals the mesmerising spectacle of a mechanical heart beating at 36,000 vibrations per hour. It’s hard to know which of the many (more than twenty) versions to single out. The solidity and precision of the 1969 original have been enriched with numerous complications, including a tourbillon, large date, split-seconds mechanism, minute repeater, alarm, retrograde date and jumping seconds.
The El Primero is the foundation on which Zenith has built its reputation.
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