Zenith El Primero Class Telemeter 03.0520.400 Review

Team,

Celebrating my 2000th post here, allow me to show a short review o my latest watch.

Background

The fact that I love Zenith watches in particular the powered by the historical El Primero movement should be no secret to anyone.

By mid July, a dear seller offered to me two watches. The first one was an El Primero New Vintage 69 and the other was an El Primero New Class 03.0520.400.

I immediately got the New Vintage 69 and I, at that time, passed the New Class with some regret, since I could not "swallow" two new watches at the same time.

Time passes and I made the decision to streamline my meager collection and I actively flipped several watches that were not a good fit to my style. With this "war chest" I got other watches at the same time that I was flipping but on a weekend I did a quick look on my watch books and I notice that I had some spare cash.

I went to the web site of my dear seller and I notice that the El Primero New Class 03.0520.400 was there.

A quick call and I got it.

Why I'm hooked on El Primero powered watches

I believe that any watch should carry a good story behind and the Zenith El Primero carries a fantastic story since it was created.

During the 40's and 50's, all watch industry was hooked on the so called automatic (self winding) watches. Many fine movements were designed and made at that time but, for reasons that I ignore, no one designed and put into production an automated chronograph (I know that Lemania designed one during the late 40's but it never went into production).

The 60's opened with three organizations trying to implement an automated chronograph movement:

Seiko - 6139
Breitling, Hamilton-Buren and Heuer-Leonidas - Caliber 11
Zenith - El Primero

1969 was a year of many accomplishments (man in the Moon was the greatest) but it also marks the announcement of the first automatic chronograph.

There are several distinct opinions about who was the first but let's consider that the Zenith implementation of a full integrated automatic chronograph was the cleaner and this is demonstrated by the 40+ years of existence.

Part of my El Primero affection is related to the Zenith story and the struggles that this company faced along all those years.

1) American Zenith decision to terminate all mechanical movements in 1975
2) The rebirth of mechanical watches
3) Rolex selection of the El Primero to power the Daytona in 1984
4) And the list goes

A short review of the El Primero Class Telemeter 03.0520.400

The watch under consideration cannot be called a classic and is no longer being manufactured by Zenith, as part of Zenith new streamlined product line.

I could not care less to own a discontinued watch, given the fact that I already own another EP powered by the same movement and I know that a Zenith watch is very maintainable for a long term.

Long term? Yes, this watch is a true keeper and, like few others that I own (JLC Amvox I, Zenith New Vintage 1969, GP WW.TC among a few) it will never leave my "stable".

Why is a keeper? The dial, the movement, the precision, the case, the hands, everything looks so harmonized that is hard to locate a single point to blame Zenith except ... The double deployant clasp. Believe me, I tried to wear this clasp but it requires a hand with seven fingers to lock and I only have meager five.

Problem? Yes and no. A quick dig into my strap box I located a 22mm black CF strap that was immediately put into the watch with, of course, a nice 18mm original Zenith buckle. After that, I'm a happy camper.

I put aside the original (black crocodile with yellow stitches) strap and the original deployant for the generations to come.

The basics:

Manufacturer reference: # 03.0520.400.

Movement: El Primero 400Z

Sizes and characteristics:

Case: 44mm wide, 13.5 mm thick, 22mm lug size.

Crystal: Sapphire dual size antiglare coated

Dial: Black, three registers, date at 4:30 (this is where the EP date should be)

Case back: Sapphire, You can see the functional EP 400z working.

Power reserve: 50 hours (never tested).

Impressions after ten days of wearing it and leaving it dial up during my sleep

The Class Telemeter is a very attractive watch only for watch addicts. For most of people is "just another watch".

I love the "polluted" dial that contains more marks that many like but I love this astrolabe looks. I notice that I prefer watches with very complex dials in special for chronographs.

It dresses very well, even on my underdeveloped wrist. The combination of the case back and the relative small lugs makes the watch to sit on my wrist on a very comfortable way.

The dial and hands do not contain any luminous material; this is not a watch for people that like to sleep in deep dark places. Do I care? No.

Performance

Just checked against my time source (U.S. Naval Observatory using SNTP) and the watch is just two seconds late, after seven days of wearing it. I consider this performance as beyond expectations and I do not expect that this will continue this way but I believe that it will stay inside the C.O.S.C. specifications for the years to come.

During my visit to my watchmaker we timed it on a time machine and it delivered a flat zero deviation on any position. "Outstanding" was the word that I hear my watchmaker mumbling (no work for him!).

Pros:

It's a Zenith El Primero. Do anyone needs more?

Cons:

See my note about the clasp. It will be great if all watch manufacturers took a look on the JLC clasp that is my definition of perfection.

Pictures

1) On my wrist. Our summer/spring in fullest. Rain from one side and blue skies from the other.

2) Another wrist shot, now in B&W

3) Side view (the pink reflex is from the ceiling of my dining room - Not bad as it seems)

4) The other side. The background is a quilt work of my wife.

5) Dial detail.

6) Another dial details. I like the balance between the digits and marks.

7) The case back, showing the utilitarian Cal 400Z. Someone described this as "austere".

Thanks for reading, 2000 posts gone, how many more to come?

Cheers,

Nilo