Discussion
tertius said:
Stuart said:
Gorgeous. Love the comparatively narrow profile of these.
They are very slim - about 10mm - probably the thinnest mechanical chrono around.If so, then Zenith knocked it out of the park with this movement, absolutely, stunningly, amazing. Check all the off-the-shelf Swiss watches with 7750s and feel how thick they are - the 7750 is a reliable automatic chrono but it's thick.
I've always liked the restrained, subtle dials that you own - Zenith's designers seem to have discovered hallucinogens recently and their designs have gone a little bit crazy.
Are they both running at 36k too?
Truly a mechanical marvel, even now. I'd say only Seiko have done anything more impressive in the pure-mechanical space, and that involved infecting the mechanical movement with a tiny amount of electronic bits... even after so many decades, has anyone made a *finer* automatic mechanical *chronograph* than the El Primero?
Have I missed something obvious that I really should know about? Certainly there was nothing impressive about Rolex's home-brew chrono that they cooked up to replace the El Primero in the Daytona - hell, you can get the El Primero with a date (as you have), but not the Daytona. Omega have some nice chronos and the 7750 spawned loads of variants, but none of them run at 36k.
The chrono in my JLC Reverso was a mechanical work of art (and damn hard to design and build) but it's not automatic and it doesn't run at 36k.
I reckon the El Primero is *still* the best automatic chrono movement out there. Not bad going for the first one made. Anyone disagree?
I can't afford to start looking at them too closely.
I 'think' the first auto chrono depends on how you define 'first' (production or example), first developed was Zenith, then Cal. 11, then Seiko. if it's defined by being on sale, the order is the other way around. (ETA - It's only a matter of months between these, just to clarify).
The Zenith was slimmer, more accurate and a stand-alone, from scratch, movement - the Calibre 11 (seen in the Guinand Buren 12 and the original Silverstone Heuer recently for example - easily distinguished by the crown being to the left while the pushers are on the right) was based on a previous movement and involved a conglomerate of makers (DupoisD, Brietling, Buren, Hamilton etc). The Seiko was again, a one company, from scratch movement that perhaps rivalled Zeniths.
I 'think' the first auto chrono depends on how you define 'first' (production or example), first developed was Zenith, then Cal. 11, then Seiko. if it's defined by being on sale, the order is the other way around. (ETA - It's only a matter of months between these, just to clarify).
The Zenith was slimmer, more accurate and a stand-alone, from scratch, movement - the Calibre 11 (seen in the Guinand Buren 12 and the original Silverstone Heuer recently for example - easily distinguished by the crown being to the left while the pushers are on the right) was based on a previous movement and involved a conglomerate of makers (DupoisD, Brietling, Buren, Hamilton etc). The Seiko was again, a one company, from scratch movement that perhaps rivalled Zeniths.
Edited by andy_s on Saturday 1st May 16:39
Edited by andy_s on Saturday 1st May 16:42
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