![]() ![]() ![]() The 38mm stainless steel case with pump-style pushers is an exact reproduction of the A386 from 1969, using the blueprints of the original to preserve the proportions of the iconic chronograph. To bring this prototype to life, it was only appropriate that Zenith produces it as a Revival piece. We may never know if the dial with three shades of blue was intended as an alternative to the A386’s dial or intended for a different model, but its striking beauty and intriguing history compelled the watchmakers at Zenith to finally put it into production. No records exist of these presumably prototype blue tri-color dials, but considering that they were kept with prototype dials of the A386 in the same configuration it was commercialized in 1969, one can assume that is was part of the original prototype dials for the A386, and that Charles Vermot himself hid them in the attic along with all the other El Primero tools. ![]() In it, remarkably preserved after decades, were a number of dials: The signature El Primero tri-color dial of the A386 that became a design icon, and more remarkably, another version of the tri-color dials, using three different shades of blue. There in the attic, among the countless artifacts and pristinely preserved tools that the heroic Charles Vermot had hidden away in the 1970s during the quartz crisis, a small, unassuming and unlabeled box was uncovered. While going through the grenier or attic of the main historical Zenith Manufacture building last year during the El Primero’s 50 th anniversary, an unexpected discovery was made. Like a time capsule sheltered from our ever-changing world, the grenier or attic of the Zenith Manufacture is a special place indeed, with many secrets still being uncovered today. The Chronomaster Revival Manufacture Edition is exclusively available on Zenith’s newly launched e-commerce platform, as well as to visitors of the Zenith Manufacture in Le Locle. For its first Manufacture Edition, Zenith has reproduced a previously unknown prototype dial of its most iconic chronograph. While the anniversary is over, Zenith continues to celebrate the venerable calibre with a number of new and exclusive watches. 2019 was a year of commemoration for the El Primero, the world’s first automatic high-frequency chronograph movement, which marked its 50th-anniversary last year. ![]()
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