Zenith

A Zenith Respirator ... and another one

 

A friend collector stayed a little bit more on our GTG place some weeks back and ...

A seller, that arrived late, had a Zenith Respirator NOS to sell and he, of course, grabbed.

To mitigate my regrets he let me to take some pics of his new catch.

It's a Zenith Respirator Luxe AF/P (High frequency / Precision) with the weekdays in German.

About this name, Respirator, it comes from the French "respirateur" and is based on the way this case is built.

There is a large gasket between the glass and the case that "breathes", meaning that as much water pressure increases the case is compressed, increasing the water resistance. It's a 70's design and this gasket, made with 70's rubber, has a strong trend to melt. I already saw some of those Respirators with a major inside damage caused by the melting of the rubber.

There are Respirators, marked with a "X" on the dial, that do not "breathes", meaning that they are Respirators only by the name.

Let's see some pictures:

1) The square/rectangular case is around 37-38 mm. Nice size.

2) The dial is metallic

3) Notice the geometry of the dial that reflects light on four directions

4) I like the simple hour markers.

5) The case is not thick. Dresses very well.

The seller returned on the following week with another one. It's smaller than my friend's one and is "X", meaning that is not a true respirator.

No deal on this one. The seller wants way too much on this one.

I choose to stay with my trusty New Vintage.

Thanks for seeing.

Cheers,

Nilo