Zenith Chronometer El Primero

About the Watch

While automatic movements for “solo-tempo” or three-hand watches started becoming popular in the 1940s and 1950s, no automatic chronograph movements had been manufactured yet. In 1962, Zenith began developing the idea of creating the first automatic chronograph in watchmaking history with the ambition to launch it in 1965, on occasion of the centenary of the Manufactury. Instead of considering the easier option to add a chronograph module to a base movement, Zenith had a more ambitious plan: the chronograph function had to be fully integrated within the mechanism and actuated by a column wheel rather than by an easier-to-implement cam. And to make things even more challenging, the beating frequency of the chronograph had to be high enough to make it the most accurate chronograph wristwatch in the world measuring 1/10th of a second. A relatively small size and a date indication were additional specifications. With all these requirements, the bar was raised so high that the project could not be completed in time for the centenary in 1965 but it required four more years. In 1969, at a press conference held on January the 10th, Zenith announced the imminent launch of the first fully integrated, high-frequency, automatic chronograph movement. Codenamed 3019 PHC, this movement was renamed “El Primero”, which means “the first” in Spanish.

About the Brand

Whether exponents of the more artistic crafts or of ultra-technical skills, all are engaged in the task undertaken by Georges Favre-Jacot 150 years ago: that of mastering each gesture to enable free-spirited creation of mechanical marvels combining noble watchmaking traditions with avant-garde innovations. Famed for its legendary 1969 El Primero calibre enabling short-time measurements accurate to the nearest 1/10th of a second, Zenith has since developed over 600 movement variations. In this third millennium, based on this same DNA, but with renewed energy, the brand has blazed the trail for fascinating new vistas in time measurement with the launch of the Defy El Primero 21 and the Defy Lab. The former opened the world of hundredth of a second timing, a quantum leap in terms of performance and engineering, impressively combining the historic heritage of Zenith with the future of watchmaking; while the latter, winner of the Innovation Prize at the 2017 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, challenged the very foundations of traditional watchmaking with the most accurate mechanical watch ever made. Energised by newly reinforced ties with a proud tradition of dynamic, avant-garde thinking, Zenith is writing its future… and the future of Swiss watchmaking.