The history of the Zenith El Primero – 6 moments that defined one of the most important movements in watchmaking
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Zenith El Primero. The movement, an elegant, high-beat column-wheel chronograph, is impressive enough. It’s even more impressive when you factor in that this miniature engineering feat was the first automatic chronograph to be presented as a working prototype — after seven long years of development. Just as important — or perhaps even more important — is the staying power of the El Primero. It’s been in near continuous production, and is still one of the greatest automatic chronograph movements on the market today. Today, we’re going to explore its evolution … 1969 – the birth The dramatic inception of the El Primero is probably the most famous part of its story — which makes sense given that it’s called “the first” in Esperanto (the utopian universal language that had a life much briefer than the movement itself). Zenith was in fierce R&D competition with the Chronomatic Group (Breitling, Heuer et al) and — further from home — Seiko, but Zenith made their announcement in January 1969, well before the Chronomatic in March, and Seiko in May. And while Zenith’s El Primero didn’t hit the market until October, they earned the right to…
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Editor’s note: With the announcement of Tudor’s ceramic Black Bay for Only Watch 2019, we found our minds turned, inexplicably, to the darker things in life. And while the chances of owning that dark phantom are slender, the Tudor Heritage Black Bay Dark is a much more achievable goal … The story in a second: It’s time you met the dark horse of the Black Bay family. After four years of tantalising, tactical releases culminating in the near-perfect surprise announcement of the Black Bay Black last year, we weren’t expecting a new Black Bay in 2016. Well, we were wrong. Tudor gave us not one, but three completely new takes on its modern classic (and updated all the existing models to boot). So now, in addition to the colourful trio of red, blue and black, we’ve got the mighty bronze, the petite 36 and today’s subject, the midnight-hued Black Bay Dark. The case The first thing you notice about the Dark is how apt the name is. It’s a starkly monochromatic watch, the black and white colour scheme only relieved with the occasional flash of red. Of course the dial and bezel are big parts of this picture, but it’s…
When Bremont burst onto the scene more than 10 years ago they were disruptive outsiders in a staid and often slow-moving industry. Since that time, the brand has gone from strength to strength — something that’s reflected in the solid, no-nonsense watches they make. And the Bremont 2019 collection is no exception, as we found out from co-founder Nick English … Bremont S300 White “It stemmed from the Supermarine … and the 300 is the 40mm version of that. We’ve come up with a white dial with a blue ceramic polished bezel, which is very, very lovely.” Bremont MBIII 10th Anniversary “A white-dial GMT that has an amazing story attached. [Martin-Baker] make 75 per cent of the Western world’s fighter ejection seats … for us it was amazing because it allowed us to put these watches through some incredible environmental testing.” Bremont HMAF Broadsword “The British Ministry of Defence approached us and said, ‘Would you like to work with us?’ … the first one is called the Broadsword, and it’s a tribute to the Dirty Dozen watches.” Bremont HMAF Arrow “The Arrow is a monopusher chronograph; it’s 42mm. I think it’s got a simple but lovely face.” Bremont HMAF Argonaut…
Thanks to their central function in the time-telling process, watch dials often get a significant amount of coverage in the horological media. But this often ignores the thing that keeps the dial on your wrist in the first place — the bracelet or strap. Considering the most customisable part of a watch is the bracelet — and what it looks like has significant impact on how the watch actually looks on the wrist — we wanted to look into the most interesting watch bracelets of 2018. G-SHOCK GMWB5000TFG-9 35TH ANNIVERSARY GOLD ALL METAL MASTERPIECE The one that started it all 35 years ago has been reborn, with everything from its case and caseback, to its bracelet, made of stainless steel for the first time. G-Shock are celebrating with this limited edition version that’s coated in an all gold-coloured ion plating. Bluetooth connectivity allows the user to automatically set the local time or adjust world times and alarms from their phone. Ref No. GMWB5000TFG-9, Case size 49.3mm, Case material Steel, Movement Tough solar, Price $1049 MIDO COMMANDER SHADE SPECIAL EDITION To celebrate their centenary, Mido have released a number of watches that pay tribute to their past. One of which is the Commander,…
If you know the heritage dive brand Doxa, you know they’re famous for three things: Dirk Pitt, distinctive cases, and orange dials that are bright enough to light up your life (and the lives of anyone within a 10-foot radius of you). Dirk Pitt is a fictional adventuring Doxa wearer, created in the mind of Clive Cussler, so we’re not going to cover him too much here. The case and the dial, however, are very much in evidence on the Doxa Sub 1200T Professional. So, if those sound like two things you’re into, read on. It’s important to note that while Doxa has been around for a good long while (the name was registered in 1910), these days the brand is really about their dive watches, which came to the fore in the 1960s. Throughout their history, Doxa had kept their dive watches remarkably true to that 1960s vision — with a legible-yet-stylised dial design (often in that popping orange), broad-flanked cushion-shaped case and an aggressively milled bezel. Not only does this well serve the adage, ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’, it’s also a good thing if you happen to have a cult dive design on your hands,…
The “Dirty Dozen” are watches produced by the 12 British Ministry of Defence contractors during World War II who were tasked with strapping watches to the wrists of allied forces. While some of the brands are bigger and better than ever before, a few have slid into relative obscurity or the books of insolvency firms. I wanted to take a look at which of the Dirty Dozen survive today … Which of the Dirty Dozen survive today? During the Second World War, the MoD took the opinion that civilian watches weren’t up to the task of providing accurate timekeeping to their soldiers, and decided they needed more robust watches to distribute. Manufacturing industries around the globe were feeling the strain of the war-time effort, so the MoD couldn’t award the contract to a single brand, and instead offered it to 12 brands. Thankfully, most of them were conveniently based in the neutral territory of Switzerland. It’s clear that brands such as IWC, Omega, Longines, Jaeger-LeCoultre (and more recently Vertex) are all alive and kicking, but what of the other magnificent seven: Buren, Lémania, Eterna, Timor, Cyma, Record and Grana? Buren It is estimated that around 11,000 watches were produced by…
Fun fact: Last year the Apple Watch shipped 22.5 million units. In the same period, the Swiss watch industry exported 23.7 million watches. Scary stuff if you’re a Swiss watch brand. Especially scary if your business is rooted in quartz watches — the market sector that’s being most aggressively eroded by the Apple onslaught. This is hardly news though — the Apple Watch has been around for five years, and the Swiss have been busy coming up with their own alternatives, like the TAG Heuer Connected and the Montblanc Summit. For an excellent state of the union style overview of where the Swiss-versus-smart conflict is up to these days, you can’t go past this snazzy piece in The New York Times by the excellent Robin Swithinbank. Read it here.
Editor’s note: The longer I spend around watches, the less I find myself in bells and whistles (Patek alarms and Jaquet Droz excepted). In fact, I find myself more and more drawn to simple, pure designs that just work. The TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 Day-Date is a perfect example of this. On the surface there’s nothing flashy or fancy about this watch. But it’s precisely this steadfast design and supreme versatility that makes this watch such a winner … It’s easy to think of the Carrera as purely a collection of chronographs, as that complication is where its roots and, indeed, heart lies. But for a long time the TAG Heuer Carrera has been about more than just sports timers. It’s evolved into something more, a shorthand for sports pedigree and precision. This is the spirit with which the Carrera Calibre 5 Day-Date shines. The Carrera look is still there, of course, notably in the 41mm steel case, with those proud lugs and polished bezel. But the heritage is there in the dial — the simple baton markers and matchstick hands aren’t too far off those of the earliest Carreras. What’s new, though, is the day-date apertures: large, legible and…
Rodger Corser looks familiar, right? That’s because he’s one of Australia’s most enduring and endearing actors. You’ll find him fighting zombies in Glitch, chasing gangsters in Underbelly and stitching up wounds in Doctor Doctor. In the new season of the popular show, you may note a certain black and stealthy companion on his wrist: The Bremont U-2/51-JET. It complements a (pleasingly intergenerational) collection that we’ve explored previously in part in these videos. Rodger’s new fascination is UK-based brand Bremont. The fit is obvious. The brand has acting pedigree, with Bremont gracing the wrist of Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Matthew McConaughey and more. It has authenticity, with a quarter of sales going to the armed forces, who demand a superior level of reliability. And it has an honesty via a rugged build and masculine aesthetic that appeals to the Aussie sensibility. We asked Rodger to review the U-2/51-JET over an eventful week in his life — the one in which he was nominated for a Gold Logie, Australia’s answer to the Emmys. I first heard about Bremont when … I was spending far too many hours on sites like yours! I found their story interesting for a new watch brand. From what I can…
While orange might be the new black, another obvious trend in the contemporary watch market is the lean towards heritage styling. This has been a consistent motif across the industry for a number of years now, but 2018 was a year when the number of heritage watches almost eclipsed those with more contemporary design. In the spirit of people loving old stuff better than new stuff, I wanted to shine the spotlight on a few pieces that are some of the best heritage watches of 2018. HAMILTON KHAKI FIELD MECHANICAL Sometimes we come across watches that present such a good value proposition, it’s almost a no-brainer. The Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical is one of those watches. And it’s not just the price that makes it a real winner either, but rather what it gets you. A 38mm, manual-wound watch with an ultra-spartan dial, the right proportions, all wrapped up in a historically relevant design that pays tribute to Hamilton’s rich military heritage. You can have our money, Hamilton. Ref No. H69429931, Case size 38mm, Case material Steel, Movement ETA 2801-2, Price $475 USD TISSOT HERITAGE PETITE SECONDE Every year Tissot nail it with their heritage-inspired releases. The plaudits…