2013/06/06
Zenith 'El Primero'
Follow your own star
Light grey, blue, anthracite… Drawn from the sky in 1969 to grace Zenith dials, the three El Primero colours have become truly iconic. These deep, intense and luminous shades reflect the values of the brand with the guiding star.
They first and foremost embody the daring of those who imagined them, thereby taking the wild dream of creating a chronograph combining automatic winding with high frequency – an unprecedented feat – to its ultimate conclusion. They also evoke the prodigious nature of a horological complication requiring the highest degree of expertise. For those who wear them, they also hint that there can be something truly wonderful about grasping the eternally fleeting nature of time. For don’t more things happen in an hour beating at the rate of 36,000 vibrations?
What did it matter if this prince among chronographs proved somewhat time-consuming? Seven years went by between the original sketches and the presentation of the first models. The aptly named El Primero (literally “the first” in Esperanto) would emerge from the Manufacture in Le Locle to become an instant legend. As well as housing the world’s most precise movement, El Primero also revolutionised watch design. Representing a clean break with the monochrome design codes prevailing in the 1960s and 70s, it elegantly featured the three counter colours that would become a brand signature. By highlighting three time measurements, the light grey for the seconds, intense blue for the minutes and the deep anthracite for the hours recalled the brand’s consistent concern with extreme precision and reliability. Stemming then as now from an average nine months’ work and no less than 2,500 different operations, the 1969 El Primero models already so masterfully embodied the essence of Zenith watchmaking that they still deserve their name. At the time they knew nothing of the wealth of interpretations to come and had no idea of the gemset future or the supersonic victory that awaited them, yet they already exuded an unmistakable aura of pleasure, daring and authenticity.
NEW RELEASES: MAKING LIFE MORE BEAUTIFUL
What a beautiful moment! The seconds appear to run a little faster, or is that just an impression? Hang on a minute; it looks like you’re growing wings. Allow yourself to be carried away towards sparkling tomorrows. If time must fly, it might as well fly beautifully. There will be no wish to stop it, but perhaps make it stand still at the tip of a watch hand? What could be more precious than these hours? Counting them may be raised to an art form. Prodigious expertise borders on the poetic. Another heart is beating and springs to life with the wearer’s movements. They nurture each another in a mutual exchange. A closer look at such beauty is a deeply moving experience, as a feeling of trust grows steadily stronger and ends up confiding its secret: it is all about maintaining a sense of wonderment, looking out for the beautiful aspects of life, capturing the finest moments. Savouring the opportunity to take a little time for oneself. Grasping, wherever it may be found, the fleeting magic that gives life its true meaning.
Art rubs shoulders there with science, technology and emotions… In the Musée National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, visitors can enjoy a splendid troll offering a journey through time. The plane aboard which Blériot crossed the Channel is on show near fibre optics, the first camera invented by the Lumière brothers, and Pascal’s calculating machine. They celebrate the grand adventure of human beings and their inventions, of creative daring and of an enterprising spirit.
El Primero Stratos Flyback Striking 10th
El Primero Original 1969
El Primero 36’000 VpH
