Objectively, there’s a lot to be loved in this watch. When Zenith launched the superbly received Chronomaster Sport, I was certainly impressed by the looks, the specs and the overall quality of Zenith’s proposition. And being someone with a passion for historical watches but also a deep interest in mechanical innovation, I can say that this recipe was, on paper, the promise of a great meal. On the other hand, the movement that ticks inside its historically relevant case is all about bringing the signature El Primero base calibre into the 21st century. The design, although using a few modern parts to make it compatible with today’s expectations, is all about faithfulness to the emblematic 1969 watch. With the recently introduced Zenith Chronomaster Original, we somehow have a reversed recipe.
Yet, the design was slightly altered with (subtle) updates and concessions to modernity. Spending Time with the Zenith Chronomaster OriginalĪs explained above, the previous version of the Chronomaster 38mm was relatively faithful to the A386 mechanically, thanks to its El Primero calibre 400. In early 2021, however, Zenith discontinued this model, leaving space to the Chronomaster Sport first, and then to the watch that is the central topic of today’s article, the Zenith Chronomaster Original. As said, the brand had a watch in its portfolio that could be regarded as a tribute to this vintage model, the classic 38mm Chronomaster with silver dial, three-colour counters, bezel-less case and calibre El Primero 400, the closest you could get to the original 1969 movement. In addition to its high collectability and historical importance (the latter being shared with the two other watches in the inaugural trilogy), the A386 is also a watch that had an immense influence on the brand and a source of profound inspiration for Zenith over the years. Zenith El Primero A386 – Photo by Hodinkee Shop
This trilogy comprised the A384, a tonneau-shaped panda-dial model, the A385, featuring the same case but with an original gradient brown dial (possibly the first of its kind) and the A386, the most classical of the three models, with a round case but also the watch that first showed the signature tri-colour sub-counters, something that has become a hallmark of Zenith. This A386 is the most iconic model in the trilogy introduced in 1969, the three watches created by Zenith to feature its newly developed and innovative movement, the El Primero calibre, regarded as one of the earliest automatic chronograph movements. The whole idea behind this modern watch is to be the closest (visually, at least) to what’s probably the most famous watch in the entire history of Zenith, the reference A386, or the inaugural three-colour El Primero watch. Without doing the entire story of the El Primero again – the story of its creation, discontinuation and revival can be read here – we can’t escape the topic of 1969 when talking about the Chronomaster Original. And I had the opportunity to spend some time with it on the wrist. The watch that really did it for me last year was the smaller, more retro-styled Zenith Chronomaster Original. Objectively, it is a great watch that most of our team considered a home run. In 2021, the brand showed impressive creativity in the field of El Primero-based watches, mainly with the introduction of the praised Chronomaster Sport. Recurring readers of MONOCHROME certainly know my love for classic-looking, historical chronographs with compact dimensions, and that specific Zenith had long been on my personal wishlist… until the brand discontinued it. For a long time, Zenith had a watch named the El Primero 38mm in its collection, a sort of direct descendant to the classic A386 watch, despite not being entirely true to the original design.
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