Zenith

Marcus Hanke
[PuristSPro Moderator]
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Funny coincidence ...

... Since my first serious mechanical watch, too, was a Zenith, and it, too, was from that "Class" series, it, too, had the white dial and the mineral crystal on the back, I, too, was still a student (well, I was just a post-graduate) and I also had to stretch things a lot to be able to afford it.

In one respect, however, I was possibly a bit more lucky: The local Zenith dealer gave up the brand and sold off the watches he still had at 50% (funnily, he now has Zenith again), so I was able to opt for the automatic Class 4 with cal. 400, instead for the Prime that was also on offer.

I liked this watch, but being involved with watches more and more, the classic dial became a bit boring over the time and I sold it.

Generally, I still consider the hand-wound cal. 420 to be the worst possible treatment of the El Primero: it appears as if being neutered, not even hiding the gaping holes for the automatic windind mechanism. Additionally, the "Class" series crown was tiny, and the hand-winding feeling of the EP very rough; it is not fun to manually wind this watch, and a hand-winding watch should be a pleasure to wind. When Chopard announced the hand-winding variant of their chronograph movement, I in fact feared to see a similar castration, but was relieved when being presented the real product.

So I fully understand that a watch-loving novice with limited funds decided to take the hand-winding El Primero, but I also think that it is not a perfect step into the world of mechanical watches: The El Primero is iconic for being (or claimed to be) the first selfwinding chronograph movement, so what sense lies in taking away exactly that important feature?

Marcus