Zenith

The same friend that allowed me to photograph his vintage Zenith collection give to me a red box saying:

"Look what I located when searching for a watch".

I took the red box home, considering that it was part of another collection but ...

Here is:

1) The box, a plain red one.

2) I open the box and ... there is Zenith inside!

3) Inside the box, two watches

4) First one. A Zenith chronograph, Cal 146DP, in gold.

5) Case back. Last two digits masked.

6) Another chrono. This time a 3 registers, powered by what seems to me an Excelsior Park movement

7) Case back. The last two digits masked.

Here are, two chronographs from the glorious times.

A question for the experts: The two watches don't have a signed crown. It's normal and correct?
A great week to all,

Nilo

And knowing that it houses an Excelsior Park is making me loving it even more!

Best,

Nicolas

Does the 3 register chrono have a textured dial?

-MW

Quite common on aged dials subjected to humid and warm weather.

Cheers,

Nilo

I'm a particular fan of the cal 146 with the "fancy" hands, like this one (as opposed to stick hands). As for the crowns, unmarked is possible on the ExPark, less likely on the cal 146. By the time Zenith was producing those (i.e. by the time Zenith had bought Martel), it seemed interested in branding its chronographs as completely as possible.

I'm always concerned about the crown signature on those vintage chronographs.

The gold one, 146DP, seems to be incorrect (there is a picture of this model on the Zenith book - page 227) but seeing the watch in metal is hard to tell.

Thank you,

Nilo