Workshop 4 was the department in the Zenith Manufacture where Charles Vermot was in charge of every El Primero movement that was made. The US management company that overlooked Zenith was one of the latter types that decided to sell off the equipment by the ton for scrap metal after losing confidence with the direction that traditional watchmaking was headed amidst this quartz crisis. It was a game-changer for many watchmakers who either tried to either adopt these new movements into their production or cash out and close their doors.

It was sometime during the quartz crisis where many manufactures went belly up because of market speculation with regards to this new battery-powered movement that is more accurate and more affordable than mechanical calibers. Most importantly, it was the only chronograph that allowed one to do some high precision timing up to 1/10 th of a second! Since then, thousands of awards have been received by Zenith for their many wristwatches, pocket watches, and on-board instruments.Īll that said, the most impressive part of the El Primero’s success story is how one Zenith watchmaker named Charles Vermot who rescued the El Primero from forever being lost. It had an instantaneous date change at midnight feature, a tachymeter, and return-to-zero pusher. It was also the first high-frequency calendar equipped chronograph and had an exceptionally thin profile of only 6.5mm which made it noticeably more slender than traditional chronographs in its time. The El Primero has made numerous innovations over the years from being a high beat, 5Hz movement that operated at an oscillation rate of 36,000 vibrations per hour, to be the first self-winding chronograph caliber. This is most likely why it got the name “El Primero” which is Spanish for “The First”. Announced at a press conference in 1969, the Zenith 3019 PCH movement as it was known, was the first to have a fully integrated self-winding rotor the making it the first-ever automatic chronograph. The El Primero wasn’t only an exceptionally precise chronograph. The company’s journey to create the El Primero, one of the most iconic chronograph movements ever made began in 1865. It's the kind of thing that films are made of.

The story of the famous Zenith El Primero is a fascinating one, to say the least. A legendary chronograph with a powerfully rich story and colorful history get some major upgrades.

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