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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