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Zenith Coffee House Tales (xiii): El Primero Stratos Flyback in 2-Tone (hands-on review)

After a rather long interruption I would like to restart the Viennese Coffee House tales with Zenith: this time with the El Primero Stratos Flyback in a rose-gold/steel two-tone outfit, a watch that seems to have captured the warmth of this fantastic summer to lighten up our hearts in the golden autumn light.



Two-tone watches have been de rigeur in the late 20th century, and have as such a rather old-fashioned image - until recently, when a handful on new offerings appeared on the market. I find myself incressingly being drawn to the combination of a vital yellow gold (e,g, 3N) combined with steel and a deep blue dial ... but I was not prepared for the impact of this étude in rose gold, steel and brown:



The Stratos is the decidedly super-terranean perfomance watch in the Zenith stable (and, as such, a complement to the recently presented highly water resistant El Primero Sport (see review here )), and features next to a screwed-down crown and a rotating bezel the very handy Flyback function, offering instanteneous restarts of a given time measurement.

The brown dial comes with sunray pattern finishing and a warm brown tone which play well with the rose gold indices, hands and the bezel insert. The colours add to each other but also offer fantastic legibility.

 

In terms of structure, Zenith has arranged the dial elements in 3 layers (subdials, main dial and rehaut) and 4 surfaces (again the three layer plus the angled step with the telemeter grading). Together, they lend a masculine, active and well shaped appearance to the watch while still retaining a sizeable touch of classicial styling - this is a watch for the sportsman, not for the body builder, after all! 

 

As I said before, this watch has a 'well-shaped' appearance, and like with so many other watches I reviewed before it takes the 'right' light to expose this feature:



The saying goes that where there is light there is also shadow. Unfortunately, this is also the case here as the image below demonstrates. The hour counter dial at 6 o'clock cuts heavily into the permanent seconds as well as the minute counters at 9 and 3 o'clock, respectively. Not only are the numerals in the latter two dials cut, but also the indices, rendering the watch is by and large unusable for measurements within a range of 15 to 25 minutes:

 

That aside, I would invite you to appreciate a quite likeable detail on the face: Note how nicely Zenith chose to integrate the date blow the hour counter in a dedicated red gold frame. The shot also highlights the design of the telemeter scale, with its values placed on the silver inclined part of the rehaut and the subdivisions printed on the outer top ring. This layouts adds quite some spice but still does not compromise legibility.
  


Next: a few impressions of the case and bracelet. The case is a substantial 45mm piece of steel with several red gold accents, most notably pushers and the crown. The latter are shaped such that they offer protection to the crown as a side effect. The feel of the pushers is very smooth and precise (although certainly not in the league of a Datograph, for example), which substantiates the notion that pusher feel is a function of movement, case construction and pusher shape - I have had in my hands a couple El Primero watches which felt much stiffer.



A characteristic feature of the timepiece is the substantial unidirectional bezel. The bezel has one rim for every minute and sports pronounced groves at each 5 minute indication. Together with the elevated and luminous dot at the 0 point the bezel can - with a bit of practice and concentration - be operated in complete darkness, or at least without having to look at the watch.

If you look at the shot below: isn't the case just s-o-o sexy? Its one of my favourite views on the watch and shows how Zentih balanced case, strap and bezel to achieve a tough but at the same time athletic and slim appearance (further down I included a similar perspective but on the wrist).

 

This brings us to a closer examination of the bracelet. This one comes with three longitudinal elements; the outer steel and brushed ones (matching the lug finishing) and the red gold polished inner strip. It just looks superb at the wrist!

I found it quite interesting that Zenith crafted the elements on the inner side of the wrist entirely in steel. This might be a simple cost-containing measure, but it certainly has some practical benefits as well: the bracelet is thus lighter, and the comparatively softer metal is not exposed to hard surfaces such as desktops or any other place you might put your arm on. Furthermore, Zenith has chosen this approach also in some of their 1980s watches, so there is ample precedent.



Turning it over completely, we can admire the classical El Primero movement through a glass back. Here of course in its flyback variant, called Cal. El Primero 405 B.



So how does it finally wear? Well, here you are:



 

As the images suggest this watch is colourful and quite self-confident wrist-companion. It would feel a bit out-of-place if combined with a white business shirt, but for those who dress anything more flamboyant like business-casual, this timepiece is an excellent choice.

At any time it is perfectly legible. It is tough but still luxurious.



What particularly tickles my fancy is the combination of very pronounced structural elements and its apparent slimness. This makes the piece appear strong and delicate at the same time, which is a good ingredient for permanent fascination ;-)



 


The Bottom Line: 
The two-tone Zenith El Primero Stratos Flyback is a remarkable sporty watch which combines a refined luxurious taste with more than sufficient ruggedness built around a legendary tried & tested movement. It is exactly this combination which makes the Stratos quite unique.

I can only reiterate that Zenith aimed the watch at the sportsman, not the athlete. Thus, it is more at home on the wrist of a golfer, a polo player or a tennis ace than on the wrist of an extreme athlete. It offers all the necessary technical features, most notably the flyback function, but wraps those inside a distinguished luxurious package - distinguished because it excels with a refined mix of materials instead of and exuberant demonstration of wealth (in form of pounds of gold).



If there are any real shortcomings with this watch then these are the cut and compromised subdials which noticeably impact on the utility of the chronograph function - a function which is at the core of the El Primero and such also the core DNA of Zenith.

This is unfortunate and unnecessary, as Zenith has proven with other timeppiece that they indeed are aware of the problem and know how to address it. On the other hand, most chronographs are anyway never used for time measurements except for timing pasta cooking. That takes less than 15 min and thus can safely be done with this watch ;-)

Apart from this sole issue I think the Stratos Two-Tone is a mesmerising watch with a great versatilty. I am quite hooked but I would miss a 60min counter (instead of the 30min) - for the simple reasion that such a counter would allow me to use it as a second timezone watch as well.




Thanks for reading,
Magnus

I met with Zenith's Miss R at a very healthy place (gluten-free, lactose-free, you get the taste), the Café 'Zum Wohl' (engl: 'To your health!', but for some of you perhaps easier to understand as 'Slainte!') in Vienna. That's a new establishment to serve the needs of the Hipster generation in Vienna (although, don't they prefer vegan these days?). We were quite early in the morning and shortly before doors opened, which may be the reason that the staff had difficulties with the term 'fresh fruits' on the menu ;-)